Google gives a substantial update to its bug bounty plan.

ByShehryar Makhdoom | Published date:
google-bug-bounty-plan

(Image credit: unsplash)

Google encourages new hackers to join its new platform. Google has revealed plans to extend its Vulnerability Rewards Programme's bug bounty program (VRP).

Over ten years of history, over 11,000 flaws have been identified and rectified through VRP, and 29,3 million dollars in prizes were shared among 2,000 researchers. But recently, Google chose to broaden and simplify its initiative with a new title: Bug Hunters.

"The VRP programme not only increased dramatically in the report volume since its beginning but also extended the group of Cybersecurity professionals behind it - including over 20 bug hunters who disclosed system weaknesses to us and finally joined the Google VRP team," says Jan Keller, who runs the program.

Google's Bug Hunters are on the case.

In a blog post, Google states that the new system would unite the individual bounty programs for their many products under one roof (e.g., Google Search, Android, Chrome, Play), which will provide a single burner for reporting bugs.

As part of its gamification strategy, Bug Hunters will have country-specific leaderboards and achievement badges, which Google claims will boost engagement and competition among community members.

In the meantime, the company has created a collection of learning programs housed under the section of the Bug Hunter University platform to help researchers enhance their bug-hunting skills and their reports. Researchers can look into effective releases from the past, examine proposed bug victims, and discover how a disclosure should be adequately prepared and formatted.

Google also utilized this occasion to encourage people to submit Free and Open Source Source (FOSS) bug reports, which are also qualified for the prize under the plan.

Comment