In a new bounty program, Google has announced that they will provide a massive sum of $1,000 to each successful hack attempt on popular Android apps.
Security concerns are rife around the globe and in an attempt to make Android apps as secure as possible, Google has partnered with HackerOne brand. A new Google Play Security Program has been initiated as part of which the company has invited all white hat hackers and security experts to show their skills.
The team has picked 13 most popular Android apps in the Google Play Store for the program. While Google has often thrown bounties to the best hacker in the world, this time surprisingly they have decided to partner with a third party company to check the durability of those apps available on their platform.
Apps including Duolingo, Tinder, Snapchat, Dropbox and Head Space among few others are the ones that hackers should attempt to break in. The rules are as simple as it could get. The person has to find a bug or vulnerability. They are not supposed to gain access to download data or do any sort of illegal stuff.
Once they report the bug, the app development team will look into it and fix it. They will provide a bounty sum to the person who found the vulnerability and Google will provide $1,000 in addition to whatever some the original developer paid. The deal sounds pretty decent for people who are skilled at identifying loopholes in codes and they can earn a considerable sum in a short time.
Apart from the identified bugs, Google will also collect user data related to the vulnerability found in an app and share it with other developers so that they could avoid it in the future. It will also help existing developers fix issues before someone exploits it. If multiple bugs get reported at the same time, the company will pick the first person to report it and reward them.
Companies often rely on white hat hackers and reward them handsomely so that the data is not stolen by illegal teams spread around the globe. By allowing hackers to make a living through bounties, the tech firms make sure they keep the talented people on their side and also fix vulnerabilities before it could be breached leading to thousands of data lost. Yet, the hacking trend does continue on large scale now and then on the most popular apps and software.