Google has upped its bug bounty fee for a very specific Android exploit to a new high sum of $1.5 million.
The tech giant’s original bug bounty initiative started with a reward of $38,000. The more popular Android became the higher the bug bounty fees became.
It goes without saying that Google will not be handing out such handsome rewards for any run-of-the-mill bug identification.
Google said that the specific exploit, in this case, can be described as a “full chain remote code execution exploit with persistence which compromises the Titan M secure element on Pixel devices.” This only applies to Google’s Pixel phones.
More plainly, this exploit would allow an attacker to manipulate a Pixel without having physical access to it, even after the device is reset and can also break into the device’s dedicated security chip.
Google describe their Titan M security chips as “an enterprise-grade security chip custom-built for Pixel 3 to secure your most sensitive on-device data and operating system.”
