Google is paying developers to find security holes in Chrome. With the latest patch, Google paid out more than $10,000.
PC World’s Katherince Noyes said that Chrome and Firefox are examples of the power of open source software.
“That’s due in part to what’s known as ‘Linus’ Law‘ – the idea that open source software is more secure by virtue of its openness,” Noyes wrote, “which means the code is visible to many more developers and testers than proprietary code is, making it more likely that any flaws will be caught and fixed quickly.”
The money helps too. Google is offering rewards of up to $3,133 for one security bug reported.
“This time around, Google credited five researchers,” Noyes said. “Sergey Glazunov earned $4674 for reporting four bugs, including two at the previous maximum of $1337 each. Another researcher took home $2000. In all, Google paid out a record of more than $10,000 in bounties in this patch alone.”
