Google announced yesterday that it will launch a new bug bounty program, through which security researchers will be able to report any suspicious activity as well as incidents of abuse or theft data user Google
The new bounty program will be called the “Developer Data Protection Reward Program (DDPRP).” As mentioned above, researchers will be able to report cases where third-party appsthat have access to Google APIs, Android apps (found in the Play Store), and Chrome apps and extensions (found in the Chrome Web Store), are attempting to misuse data.
This program mainly aims to identify cases of misuse or sale of user without their consent.
A second goal, however, is to reward researchers who discover and report suspicious activities with sufficient evidence.
Researchers will be able to report such incidents via the DDPRP page on HackerOne, a bug bounty platformthat Google uses to run some of its bounty programs. Google aims to investigate all abuse incidents and suspend all dangerous applications.
According to Google, researchers who bring valid reports of data abuse will be rewarded with large sums of money (up to $50,000).
Following Facebook 's example
Google appears to have followed the example of Facebook and Instagram, which had launched bug bounty programs a few years ago.
For example, in April 2018, after the Cambridge Analytica, Facebook announced that it would offer large rewards to researchers who would discover similar apps that secretly collect and misuse the platform's users' data.
In August, Facebook decided to use the same program to report abuse incidents involving Instagram.
Although Google has not faced any serious data breach incident, it decided to launch this bug bounty program as a precaution. After all, it manages a huge amount of personal data and is responsible for its protection. Cyberattacks are a very common phenomenon and the largest companies and businesses have fallen victim to unscrupulous hackers.
A breach incident, similar to Facebook's, could cause a major blow to the company's reputation.
Play Store bug bounty program will now include any Android app that has more than 100 million users. Researchers can now report bugs they find in these apps to Google. The Android OS maker will reward researchers who provide valid bug reports, even if those apps don't have their own bug bounty programs.
