1. #1

    Google pays people to hack their browsers (and tell them how)

    Some dude scored not one but TWO $60,000 prizes from Google for finding exploits in Chrome.

    How many other illicit activities out there can get you paid legitimate cash?

    http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/10/tee...-chrome-again/

  2. #2
    See, if I was a hacker, this is the kind of shit I would be doing, *helping* big companies find flaws in their system and making lots of dough doing it instead of hacking them to 'prove a point' to become a felon instead. Props to both Google and the participants for doing this.

  3. #3
    Deleted
    Thats kinda an old way to approach things like that.. And very much used in the IT business.

  4. #4
    Isn't there an annual competition for this stuff in Vegas?
    Quote Originally Posted by Shalcker View Post
    Posting here is primarily a way to strengthen your own viewpoint against common counter-arguments.

  5. #5
    It isn't illicit when the owner of the software asks you to do it. Any large corporation is going to have either internal or an external company try to 'hack' into their network multiple times a year to test security. It is called ethical hacking.

  6. #6
    Companies used to (and probably still do) put programs, operating systems, firewalls etc on the Cambridge mainframe and see how long it took for the students to break in to them.

  7. #7
    Merely a Setback Sunseeker's Avatar
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    Being paid by the developer of a product to attempt to break their product isn't an illicit activity.
    Human progress isn't measured by industry. It's measured by the value you place on a life.

    Just, be kind.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Laize View Post
    Some dude scored not one but TWO $60,000 prizes from Google for finding exploits in Chrome.

    How many other illicit activities out there can get you paid legitimate cash?

    http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/10/tee...-chrome-again/
    That's called a White-hat hacker, people like that mostly work IT/Network security for companies, doing those exact things.
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  9. #9
    Grunt
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    Actually its called "penetration testing" or "pentest", its what i do for a living within the Government IT Directorate.
    Its not as fun as it sounds, or as erotic. Mostly....

  10. #10
    It's not illicit at all, it's more like freelance advanced bug testing.

    Also it's rather closer to what hackers originally meant (as opposed to the "modern" meaning of "omg my account was hacked").

  11. #11
    If you are looking for other ... interesting ... things sort of like this, 3M used to (I'm not sure if they still do) have a plastic case outside their HQ in MN with tens of thousands of dollars in it. If you could get into the case without burning the money, the money was yours.

  12. #12
    The Lightbringer N-7's Avatar
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    I don't know but I thought this was common practice especially in big companies and security specialised industries. No?

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by N-7 View Post
    I don't know but I thought this was common practice especially in big companies and security specialised industries. No?
    $60,000 is the upper range of a middle class salary... I'm pretty sure most prizes aren't so tremendous.

  14. #14
    Deleted
    Heh, such prizes already existed in my "young and stupid" times 10 years ago, they were an exeption then and not a rule like now. Considering the current scary scene, with the amount of money organized crime now offers for undiscovered exploits, and secret services competing with them. 60k is much for a honest person, not much for a potential criminal, but shows that there are still enough honest people.

  15. #15
    The Lightbringer N-7's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Laize View Post
    $60,000 is the upper range of a middle class salary... I'm pretty sure most prizes aren't so tremendous.
    Duh, I am not speaking about the actual prize (A company as big as Google can afford it with ease) but about whether the practice is common or not.

  16. #16
    I would think that it is fairly commonplace.

  17. #17
    It's basically paying people to find flaws in their security, sounds like legit work to me.

  18. #18
    Nothing Really new tho. Most big companies do that.

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