ID: IRCNE2013061883
Date: 2013-06-05
According to “ComputerWorldUK”, Microsoft on Wednesday backpedaled from a long-standing refusal to pay bug bounties when it announced a temporary program for the beta of Internet Explorer 11 (IE11).
The Internet Explorer 11 Preview Bug Bounty will start June 26, the day the browser launches alongside Windows 8.1 at the BUILD developer conference, and will run until July 26. During the 30 days, Microsoft will pay researchers up to $11,000 for each vulnerability they find and report to the company.
Microsoft has repeatedly rejected the idea of joining rivals, such as Google and Mozilla, in paying for bugs. In 2011, the company insisted a just-announced contest was a better use of its money than paying for bugs one by one.
Also Microsoft expanded that 2011 contest -- then labeled the "BlueHat Prize" -- into an ongoing "BlueHat Bonus for Defense" initiative that will pay researchers up to $50,000 for fresh defensive security solutions.
The big money was reserved for another new program, dubbed "Mitigation Bypass Bounty," that will award up to $100,000 for any novel exploitation technique able to circumvent Windows 8.1's many defenses.
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