Google Paying Up to $1337 for Chrome Bugs

The Google Chrome browser has been a choice of PC users for some time, and as of recently it's become an option for Linux and Mac users. The related Chromium project, the open source side to Chrome, has opened up a bounty system similar to Mozilla's to interest security researchers to encourage bug squashing.

Here are some of the details from the Q&A in Google's blog post:

Q) What reward might I get?

A) As per Mozilla, our base reward for eligible bugs is $500. If the panel finds a particular bug particularly severe or particularly clever, we envisage rewards of $1337. The panel may also decide a single report actually constitutes multiple bugs. As a consumer of the Chromium open source project, Google will be sponsoring the rewards.

Q) What bugs are eligible?

A) Any security bug may be considered. We will typically focus on High and Critical impact bugs, but any clever vulnerability at any severity might get a reward. Obviously, your bug won't be eligible if you worked on the code or review in the area in question.

Q) What about bugs present in Google Chrome but not the Chromium open source project?

A) Bugs in either build may be eligible. In addition, bugs in plugins that are part of the Chromium project and shipped with Google Chrome by default (e.g. Google Gears) may be eligible. Bugs in third-party plugins and extensions are ineligible.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • nman729
    lol, 1337
    Reply
  • B-Unit
    Heheh, good news, they have geeks in the marketing dept over at Google.
    Reply
  • amabhy
    Misleading title much?

    I thought Google got into some kind of lawsuit or something, not that this was a contest.
    Reply
  • kyeana
    amabhyMisleading title much?I thought Google got into some kind of lawsuit or something, not that this was a contest.
    A lawsuit for less then 1500$ dollars? Really?
    Reply
  • amabhy
    kyeanaA lawsuit for less then 1500$ dollars? Really?
    Yeah, coulda been a hacker who found some loophole or something and scammed them out of an amusing amount of money.

    Remember the incident where Dell underpriced their nice monitors at a dirt cheap price?
    Reply
  • micky_lund
    cheap lawsuit if it was $1337
    Reply
  • twu
    Sell the bug to any anti-virus software company may get pay more than $1300. lol:)
    Reply
  • rbarone69
    This is SMART. This is cheap considering hiring a full time employee to find these bugs is way more expensive.
    Reply
  • LATTEH
    I seriously LOL'd
    Reply
  • wintermint
    I only saw 1337 and thought of leet.. dam internet influence D:!
    Reply