Sundar Pichai

Google Will Now Pay Anyone Who Reports Apps Abusing Users' Data

In the wake of data abuse scandals and several instances of malware app being discovered on the Play Store, Google today expanded its bug bounty program to beef up the security of Android apps and Chrome extensions distributed through its platform.

The expansion in Google's vulnerability reward program majorly includes two main announcements.

First, a new program, dubbed 'Developer Data Protection Reward Program' (DDPRP), wherein Google will reward security researchers and hackers who find "verifiably and unambiguous evidence" of data abuse issues in Android apps, OAuth projects, and Chrome extensions.

Second, expanding the scope of its Google Play Security Rewards Program (GPSRP) to include all Android apps from the Google Play Store with over 100 million or more installs, helping affected app developers fix vulnerabilities through responsibly disclosures.'

Get Bounty to Find Data-Abusing Android & Chrome Apps

The data abuse bug bounty program aims to avoid scandals like Cambridge Analytica that hit Facebook with $5 billion in fines for failing to identify situations where user data is being used or sold unexpectedly or repurposed illegitimately without user consent.

"If data abuse is identified related to an app or Chrome extension, that app or extension will accordingly be removed from Google Play or Google Chrome Web Store," Google says in its blog post published today.

"In the case of an app developer abusing access to Gmail restricted scopes, their API access will be removed."

Google has not yet announced any reward table for the DDPRP program but ensured that a single report could net up to $50,000 in bounty depending on the impact.

Bug Bounty On All Android Apps With 100 Million+ Downloads

On the other hand, the GPSRP Program, which was initially launched in 2017, was until today limited to only reporting vulnerabilities in popular Android apps in Google Play Store.

With the latest announcement, Google will now work with developers of hundreds of thousands of Android apps, each with at least 100 million downloads, helping them to receive vulnerability reports and instructions on how to patch them over their Play Consoles.

"These apps are now eligible for rewards, even if the app developers don't have their own vulnerability disclosure or bug bounty program," Google says.

"If the developers already have their own programs, researchers can collect rewards directly from them on top of the rewards from Google."

Part of Google's App Security Improvement (ASI) program, this existing initiative has already helped over 300,000 developers fix more than 1,000,000 apps on the Google Play Store.

Hopefully, both measures will now allow Google to prevent malicious Android apps and Chrome extensions from abusing its users' data, as well as to beef up the security of apps distributed through Play Store.

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🌴Project Green Energy🌴


One of the most ambitious projects to date, Google aims high once again by targeting the Energy sector after acquiring Makani Power Company.

The investment made is by no means an accidental one.

Makani Power uses wind turbines and advanced technology to generate electricity.

The innovative approach?

The wind turbines are flown like kites 800 – 1,950 feet in the air attached to cords and robotic equipment only. While circling high in the air, the turbines gather energy through the wing-tip blades and transferred to earth through a conductive tether. They are movable, easy to deploy and can be transported with ease.

The inspiration came from two entrepreneurs back in 2006, and the first prototype was a success.

How do we benefit from this project?

Airborne Wind Turbines Analysis

(See The Attached image below)

According to Makani, Google’s acquisition will greatly improve the product line to become a successful and competitive alternative to other sources of energy (fossil fuels).

The struggle to operate new energy sources is rapidly becoming a trend; however, the progress remains slow and priorities have been delayed. General Electric installed its first wind energy plant in Estonia, and the sector niche in Q4-2012 yielded an astounding “5.5% of Estonia’s total electricity consumption.”

With upcoming trends in renewable energy, Google[x] labs can generate a new model of Makani kites to deploy in remote, inaccessible areas in dire need of energy, military bases requiring power generators and immediate recovery of disaster-prone sites;

Speaking of which, the U.S. Department of Energy’s situational report after Hurricane Sandy and Nor’easter revealed combined consumer electrical outages affected 8.6 million customers, while thousands were unable to accept electric service. The sheer numbers affected after disaster strikes is usually even greater. Having an alternative source of power is a must to avoid unnecessary consequences.

The deployment of mobile, transportable and easy-to-setup modes of energy will be a life-saver in many unfortunate situations; movable wind-turbines use less material and space, while offering a great substitute to existing outdated methods.

Despite the secretive lab, and mysterious flair… you have to admit Google is accomplishing their share of social responsibilities diligently and swiftly.

Quoting Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder about the driverless cars (and applying the quote to most Google projects):

You can count on one hand the number of years it will take before ordinary people can experience this.”

And therein lies their magic.