Samsung launches a bug bounty program for smartphones

Bugs have always been a problem that companies took notice to fix, but these days it has been necessary to roll out patches at an ever increasing frequency due to the rise in cyber threat. Samsung following Microsoft and Apple has launched a bug bounty program to find and neutralize bugs impacting the firm's mobile platform.

In a blog post dated last Wednesday, Samsung announced that the new program focuses on mobile devices and their firmware, including the Galaxy S series, the Note series, Galaxy A and J product lines, and the Galaxy Tab, 38 mobiles in total. These include everything ranging from low-end to premium mobile devices manufactured by the South Korean electronics giant.

“We take security and privacy issues very seriously; and as an appreciation for helping Samsung Mobile improve the security of our products and minimizing risk to our end-consumers, we are offering a rewards program for eligible security vulnerability reports,” said the post. “Through this rewards program, we hope to build and maintain valuable relationships with researchers who coordinate disclosure of security issues with Samsung Mobile.”

Applicants have varied requirements and have to test active devices which are up-to-date with the latest firmware and security patches, and also check for vulnerabilities on third-party applications used to exploit bugs must be specific to Samsung Mobile devices, applications, or services.