Google, the tech giant who always reward security researchers for finding flaws in their services announced the launch of a security rewards program for Android at Black Hat’s Mobile Security Summit in London. But as of now The Android program will only cover vulnerabilities that affect Nexus phone and tablets available for sale in the Google Play Store, though. Right now, that’s the Nexus 6 phone and Nexus 9 tablet.
Rewards start at $500 for reporting moderately severe vulnerabilities and go up to $8,000 for researchers who report a critical bug, provide a test case and submit a patch. On top of that, Google will offer up to an additional $30,000 for exploits that can compromise TrustZone or Verified Boot (and slightly smaller rewards up to $10,000 and $20,000 for attacks from installed apps and remote or proximal attacks).
With the launch of the Android Security Rewards Program, Google aims to encourage the work of security researchers in making Android more secure. If you are a hacker or a security researcher and If you’re looking to join the hunt, you can browse all the detailed info right here.
What do you think about this reward initiative by Google? Are the efforts enough to help make Android more “secure”? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
