Google will no longer reward vulnerabilities discovered in apps on Google Play

mobile phones, 19.08.2024, 13:30 PM

Security vulnerabilities are hidden in most of the applications you use every day. Most companies have no way to proactively address every possible security issue that results from human error, deadlines, lack of resources, and a host of other factors. Because of this, many companies have error detection programs that provide them with external help in solving these problems.

The Google Play Security Reward Program (GPSRP) is one such program that pays researchers to find vulnerabilities in popular Android apps. However, Google has now decided to end GPSRP. The company has notified participating developers that the program will be shutting down on August 31st. Google explained that the program is being shut down because there has been a drop in the number of reported vulnerabilities. The company attributes this success to improving the security of the Android OS and the efforts being made to make it happen.

Google launched the Google Play Security Reward Program Google launched in October 2017 to motivate researchers to monitor and report vulnerabilities in popular Android applications from the Google Play Store.

When GPSRP first started, it was only available to a few developers who could report vulnerabilities affecting a small number of applications. Over time, the program expanded its reach to include all apps on Google Play with at least 100 million installs, such as Airbnb, Alibaba, Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook, Grammarly, Instacart, Line, Lyft, Opera, among many others. , Paypal, Pinterest, Shopify, Snapchat, Spotify, Telegram, Tesla, TikTok, Tinder, VLC and Zomato.

The initial top prizes of $5,000 and $10,000 were increased by Google to $20,000 in July 2019.

Google says it used vulnerability data from the program for automated scans that checked whether other apps on Google Play had similar problems. These scans have helped more than 300,000 developers fix more than 1,000,000 applications. So thanks to GPSRP, fewer risky apps ended up on Android users’ devices.

Photo: Alexander London | Unsplash