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Google paid over $6.7 million in reward to security researchers for spotting security and abuse bugs in its products last year.
The prize paid by the tech giant to 662 researchers across 62 countries is the largest prize paid to researchers. In 2019, Google had paid bug bounty hunters $6.5 million.
“The incredibly hard work, dedication, and expertise of our researchers in 2020 resulted in a record-breaking payout of over $6.7 million in rewards,” Google said in a blog post.
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The company paid $1.74 million in rewards in the Android Vulnerability Reward Program. Google paid over $50,000 as Android 11 developer preview bonus which allowed the company to patch issues before officially releasing Android 11.
A large part of the total pay-out went to Chrome as Google had raised its reward amounts in July. Due to this, the rewards totalled $2.1 million, an increase of 83% as compared with 2019.
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This year, Google expanded the criteria for qualifying Android apps and included apps using Exposure Notification API to help contact tracing during Covid-19. The company awarded over $270,000 to Android researchers around the world as a part of Google Play Security Rewards Program and Developer Data Protection Reward Program.
The California-based firm also handed over $400,000 in grants to more than 180 security researchers. Of all grants rewarded, one-third were given in response to the Covid-19 crisis.
