Google will pay you $1.5 mn for finding bugs in Pixel phones

SAN FRANCISCO: Google has announced to pay $1 million as top award to security researchers who can find a unique bug in its Pixel series of smartphones that may compromise users’ data.

There is an additional 50 per cent bonus if a security researcher is able to find an exploit on “specific developer preview versions of Android”, resulting in a prize of $1.5 million.

The Google Bug Bounty programme will reward the top prize to someone who can break into Google’s Titan M “secure element.”

Similar to Apple’s “iPhone Secure Elementa, “Titan M” is a security chip that automatically scans hackers trying to load malware when an Android phone is turned on.

For the new reward category, Google is looking for “full chain remote code execution exploit with persistence which compromises the Titan M secure element on Pixel devices.”