Facebook has paid Rs 4.84 crore to researchers in India as part of its bug bounty programme. This is the highest amount paid till date by the world’s largest social networking platform, for such a program.
A bug is an error or defect in software or hardware that causes a programme to malfunction.
It often occurs due to conflicts in software when applications try to run in tandem.
While bugs can cause the software to crash or produce unexpected results, certain defects
can be used to gain unauthorised access to systems.
Since its launch in 2011, Facebook’s bug bounty programme has received over 2,400 valid submissions and has awarded more than USD 4.3 million to 800-plus researchers globally.
Under the programme, researchers get rewarded for reporting security bugs, identifying vulnerabilities in Facebook’s services or infrastructure that can create security or privacy risks.
It received a total of 13,233 submissions from 5,543 researchers in 127 countries and paid USD 936,000 to 210 researchers, who submitted a total of 526 valid reports. The average payout was USD 1,780. India, Egypt, and Trinidad and Tobago received the highest number of payouts.
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