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Chrome Bug Hunters Receive $6,000 Payday from Google

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News Posted: Wed, Jan 25 2012 3:44 PM
Google's Chrome browser didn't become the second or third most used browser on the planet by accident (whether it ranks No. 2 or No. 3 depends on whose market share numbers you trust). Among other things, stability is a key ingredient, and you can score some serious loot by uncovering bugs and letting Google know about them. Arthur Gerkis, for example, was awarded $1,000 each for finding a pair of vulnerabilities with a "High" security.

Bug hunters rooted out five bugs in all worth a combined $6,133.70 in the latest stable release. The biggest payday went to Chamal de Silva, who cashed in on a $3,133.70 bounty for discovering a "Critical" vulnerability in Chrome's Safe Browsing navigation that would cause the browser to crash when refreshing the page after seeing an anti-malware warning.


Google routinely pays out bounties as part of its Vulnerability Rewards Program for Chrome. Reward amounts range from $500 a pop all the way up to $3,133.70, depending on the severity of the bug. In the past, users have been known to rack up several thousand dollars, and in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars -- see Sergey Glazunov in Chromium's Security Hall of Fame.
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LLeCompte replied on Wed, Jan 25 2012 5:00 PM

The best way to fix problems is to pay people to do it. This is really cool what google is doing, it seems all partys benefit from it.

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FreeJet replied on Wed, Jan 25 2012 5:11 PM

That's odd. Why doesn't Google just pay it's own employees to find bugs. Or are they all too busy playing foosball in the company lounge.

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cowboyspace replied on Wed, Jan 25 2012 7:45 PM

Bug hunters won't sleep with this challenge, that is a good award. Freejet nice question :) but i think those aren't easy bugs to find.more people more chances :)

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realneil replied on Wed, Jan 25 2012 10:25 PM

Maybe people who don't have anything to do with the actual development of Chrome have a whole new or different perspective when it comes to analyzing it's weaknesses?

It seems to be a good way to look for mistakes, and the fact that Google pays people to find the flaws is cool.

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.

(Mark Twain)

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AKwyn replied on Thu, Jan 26 2012 1:33 AM

I have to agree. Having it's employees do it would be good but the fact that they're letting us find the bugs and they're paying us cold-hard cash for it is just plain awesome. Mozilla does do the same thing as them but who gives away cash for finding bugs?

 

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DangerRenegade replied on Fri, Jan 27 2012 12:08 AM

It ends up being cheaper for them than extra full-time employees anyway. It's really a win-win.

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FreeJet replied on Fri, Jan 27 2012 3:17 AM

I bought a car the other day,
The engine smoked, the brakes gave way.
The dealer said, "Hey, that's OK",
You may have won the lotto, "Yay!"
The maker called and said he'll pay,
Cuz you just found some flaws, they say.
Safety, security, be that as it may.
Things aren't designed to be held sway.

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