Electronics Giant Samsung has announced a $200,000 Mobile Security program where security experts will be rewarded for exposing vulnerabilities in Samsung smart phones and tablets.
Depending on the severity level of the vulnerability, the rewards will range from $200 and $200,000 for qualified security reports submitted through proper channel.
The lists of products which are included in the program incorporate a total of 38 devices. Those include Galaxy Series (S8, S8+, S8 Active, S7, S7 Edge, S7 Active, S6 edge+, S6, S6 edge, S6 Active). Galaxy Note Series (Note 8, Note FE, Note 5, Note 4, Note Edge), Galaxy A series-A3 (2016), A3 (2017), A5 (2016), A5 (2017), A7 (2017)), Galaxy J Series- J12016, J1 Mini, J1 Mini Prime, J1 Ace, J2(2016), J3(2016), J3 2016, J3 pro, J3 Pop, J5 2016, J5 2017, J7 2016, J7 2017, J7 Max, J7 Neo, J7 Pop; Galaxy Tab Series( S3 9.7, S2 L Refresh).
For all those security experts who are interested in exposing the security holes, here’s a quick update. Samsung has specified that experts exposing the holes should see that they are doing it on phones which have the latest security update. Also, vulnerabilities which are being listed on third party applications must be specific to Samsung Mobile devices, applications or services.
Samsung has also put a clause in its Mobile Security Program that security experts who are willing to expose the vulnerabilities should not make them public until Samsung investigates them to the core.
Very Recently, Microsoft announced a similar reward program called Windows Bounty. Through this program, the software giant promised to reward $250,000 to anyone who could expose the vulnerabilities in Hyper V and server operating systems.
A $15k reward has been awarded to those who figure out security bugs in Microsoft Edge or Windows 10 OSes.
