Google Offers Big Bucks To Hackers

(RTTNews) - Google has increased the maximum payout under the Android Security Rewards program, a bounty program that rewards people who discover bugs and system exploits in OS, to $200,000.

Google had launched its bug bounty program for Android in 2015. It is similar to other such programs offered by almost all major tech companies. If a security researcher finds a bug or a system exploit he would get a cash prize. The prize money varies based on the severity of the bug.

Google has paid security researchers over $1.5 million since the program was launched. Google hopes that it will be able to attract more security researchers and engineers to the bug bounty program by increasing the reward.

According to Extreme Tech, the increases reward applies to two bounties; one for vulnerabilities in TrustZone or Verified Boot, and the other for a remote kernel exploit. Google has increased the bounty for both TrustZone and Verified Boot from $50,000 to $200,000, as the search giant considers it to be a serious matter, while the bounty for a new remote kernel exploit has gone up to $150,000 from $30,000.

Last week, a new malware called "Judy" was discovered by a security research firm Checkpoint in over 41 apps available on Play Store. The malware is reported to be developed by a Korean company Kinwini and published under the moniker ENISTUDIO Corp. According to reports, up to 36.5 million Android devices may have been infected by the malware.