As part of its plans to make Android more secure from potential hacker attacks, Google is increasing its rewards for security researchers who can exploit its software services and hardware products. The company explained on Thursday a blog post.
In that entry he details the new enhanced rewards that could potentially attract cybersecurity researchers. Also to hackers, with up to 5 million for hacking their Pixel smartphones.
According to Jessica Lin of the Android Security Team, the biggest reward would be a $1 million payment for a full-chain remote code vulnerability with persistence that compromised the Titan M secure element on Pixel devices.
Also he said:
"In addition, we will launch a specific program that offers a 50% bonus for exploits found in specific versions of Android developer preview, which means that our main prize is now $ 1.5 million"
In addition to the Pixel Titan M-related vulnerabilities, Google also added other vulnerability categories to the bounty program, such as those related to data leakage and lock screen bypass.
These rewards amount to $500.000 depending on the category of security breach.
The new rewards came into effect on November 21st, so any reports submitted before that date will be rewarded based on the previous agreement.
The new rewards are part of Google's Android Security Rewards (ASR) program. This was originally announced in 2015 to reward researchers who find and report security issues to help keep the Android ecosystem safe.
The company claims to have paid more than four million dollars for more than 1,800 reported vulnerabilities in the last four years, and the total payment in the last 12 months is said to have been 1.5 million.