Google paid out over $6.5 million in bug bounty rewards program

Google said that the company paid more than $ 6.5 million in the bug bounty rewards program in 2019. Their “Vulnerability Reward Programs” provides bonuses for security researchers who find and report bugs in Google services. Of the total, $2.1 million came from Google programs, $1.9 million from Android, $1 million from Chrome, and $800,000 from Google Play programs.

The $6.5 million expenditure is almost double the $ 3.4 million awarded in 2018. In comparison, $2.9 million was paid in 2017, $3 million was paid in 2016, and $2 million was paid in 2015.

The largest single award was $201,000, and a total of 461 researchers received a bounty. Google is also donating $507,000 to charities in 2019.