Google to eliminate bugs from mobile apps using bug bounty program

The company will team up with HackerOne, a bug bounty program management website, to target a list of apps and flaws such as those that allow a hacker to redirect a user to a phishing website or infect a gadget with a virus. This initiative aims to back up automated checks that have failed to block malware and other problems as software scans cannot match a person’s ability to discover “a truly creative hack”. Thus, each flaw will score at least USD 1,000 under the program.

The Google Play Security Reward Program effectively sponsors research into software created by other companies, according to Reuters. Bug bounties by Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet have been awarded only for tracing flaws in their own software. Google’s bug bounty program for its Android mobile operating system, launched in June 2015, doled out USD 1.5 million for hundreds of vulnerability reports over its first two years.