Why Google Is Offering Hackers an 'Infinity Million Dollars'
What you need to do to collect a sweet payday.
— -- How's this for an awesome payday?
Google is offering a reward of an "infinity million dollars" to hackers who bring to light vulnerabilities in its Chrome browser and operating system.
The annual security contest called Pwnium has now become a year-round endeavor for Google. The search engine giant said it hopes the new effort will remove the incentive for "big hoarding" in which hackers would wait to collect a reward from the once-a-year contest.
"By allowing security researchers to submit bugs all year-round, collisions are significantly less likely and security researchers aren't duplicating their efforts on the same bugs," Tim Willis, a hacker philanthropist on the Chrome Security Team, wrote in a blog post.
Hackers can earn between $500 and $50,000 for each bug they discover, according to the rules, which go into effect today.
As expected for a company offering an "infinity million dollars," Google did include a legal disclaimer.
"Our lawyercats wouldn't let me say 'never-ending' or 'infinity million' without adding that 'this is an experimental and discretionary rewards program and Google may cancel or modify the program at any time,'" Willis wrote.
Related Stories
ABC News Live