Google has decided to introduce the Google Play Security Reward Program in order to make third-party apps in the Play Store more secure. The program is being launched following the success of other bounty programs the company runs for products such as Chrome.
Discussing how the program works, Google says:
“Through our collaboration with independent bug bounty platform, HackerOne, we’ll enable enable security researchers to submit an eligible vulnerability to participating developers, who are listed in the program rules. After the vulnerability is addressed, the eligible researcher submits a report to the Play Security Reward Program to receive a monetary reward from Google Play.”
Right now, only a limited number of developers are able to participate in the program as Google collects initial feedback. If you, as a developer, are interested in participating, you can contact your Google Play partner manager to show interest.
Time and again we keep hearing about infected apps on the Google Play Store but despite efforts, such as Bouncer, Google can’t get to grips with the problem. Hopefully, by launching the bounty platform, it can keep more malware out of the Play Store.
Source: Google | Image via uservice_spb