Chrome Bug Hunters Receive $6,000 Payday from Google

Google's Chrome browser didn't become the second or third most used browser on the planet by accident (whether it ranks No. 2 or No. 3 depends on whose market share numbers you trust). Among other things, stability is a key ingredient, and you can score some serious loot by uncovering bugs and letting Google know about them. Arthur Gerkis, for example, was awarded $1,000 each for finding a pair of vulnerabilities with a "High" security.

Bug hunters rooted out five bugs in all worth a combined $6,133.70 in the latest stable release. The biggest payday went to Chamal de Silva, who cashed in on a $3,133.70 bounty for discovering a "Critical" vulnerability in Chrome's Safe Browsing navigation that would cause the browser to crash when refreshing the page after seeing an anti-malware warning.


Google routinely pays out bounties as part of its Vulnerability Rewards Program for Chrome. Reward amounts range from $500 a pop all the way up to $3,133.70, depending on the severity of the bug. In the past, users have been known to rack up several thousand dollars, and in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars -- see Sergey Glazunov in Chromium's Security Hall of Fame.
Tags:  Chrome, Google, Browser, bugs