Google Introduces New Bug Bounty
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Cash is waiting for hackers who can find any flaws in these Android apps.
Attention all good-guy hackers, Google has a job for you.
The tech giant has set up a new bug bounty program that would focus on the top Android apps found in Google's Play Store. This isn't the tech giant's first bug bounty program, but this one will pay hackers who find any flaws in popular third-party apps, rather than flaws in Google's own software. Ultimately, Google hopes this will raise the quality of the apps found in the Play store.
And while there are likely to be many spammy bug-riddled games and apps, Google wants the scoop on specific programs that have actually been heavily used, including Dropbox, Duolingo, Snapchat, Tinder and Alibaba.
If hackers find anything, they must submit a report straight to the app developers and work with them, before turning in a report to HackerOne's bounty platform to collect their reward. And the reward is a nice chunk of change: $1,000 for every issue found that meet's Google's criteria. It's not as high stakes as a bug bounty set up by the Air Force, there is still an opportunity to find and fix numerous security flaws.