Hackers Can Win $200,000 in Google’s Project Zero Contest

Apple isn’t the only one offering up a $200,000 reward for severe vulnerabilities on mobile devices. Google announcement of the Project Zero Prize, and like the Apple Security Bounty, the top payout is $200,000.

Yes, the tech giant Google announced on Tuesday an Android hacking contest basically known as “Project Zero” with the first prize winner receiving $200,000 in cash. Yes, now I think it might be sounding much interesting and why it should not be, when tech giant Google like company offering $ 200,000 cash.

“The goal of this contest is to find a vulnerability or bug chain that achieves remote code execution on multiple Android devices knowing only the devices’ phone number and email address,” said Project Zero team member Natalie Silvanovich. The program has a unique structure in that researchers will be asked to report bugs to the Android issue tracker as they are found, rather than wait until they have the full vulnerability chain ready to go.

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The program has a unique structure in that researchers will be asked to report bugs to the Android issue tracker as they are found, rather than wait until they have the full vulnerability chain ready to go.

We all know very well that Google has done this kind of competitions before. In June 2015, the company launched the Android security program for hackers to hunt these bugs and receive monetary awards.

According to Google, there are three reasons to offer another hacking contest. The first is to see closely the steps taken by hackers to find and exploit the flaw in the programming. Each delivery must be accompanied by a document with the technical procedure taken by the hacker, as we told earlier.

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The second reason is obvious: fixing the problems that exist and sometimes not reported. Finally, the company said, it is to begin storing data on these bugs to understand, for example, how soon can be found, how many they are and what information was obtained.

It is a competition which is designed for the people who can program and want to make money. Of course, many people know how to program, and we all want to make money. The difference is that these people will find fault with Android just knowing the phone number and e-mail of the victim. Is it a simple task ?

It's in each participant's interest to file bugs as soon as possible since Google will credit only the first who submits a specific bug.

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Researchers must be able to hack a Nexus 6P and a Nexus 5X smartphone running any version of Android that is current during the six-month stretch. "Entries where the user must open an email in Gmail, or open an SMS in Messenger are eligible, otherwise no user interaction is allowed," the contest's rules stated.

What's the Requirements?

Starting Tuesday and ending on March 14, 2017, the contest will only award cash prizes to contestants who can successfully hack any version of Android Nougat on Nexus 5X and 6P devices.
However, the catch here is that Google wants you to hack the devices knowing only the devices' phone numbers and email addresses.

Contest Cash Prizes

• First Prize: worth $200,000 USD will be awarded to the first winning entry.
• Second Prize: worth $100,000 USD will be awarded to the second winning entry.
• Third Prize: At least $50,000 USD will be awarded to additional winning entries.

Project Zero security researcher Natalie Silvanovich said in a blog post while announcing the competition that “Despite the existence of vulnerability rewards programs at Google and other companies, many unique, high-quality security bugs have been discovered as a result of hacking contests”. Also added that winners will also be invited to write a short technical report describing their entry, which will then be posted on the Project Zero Blog.