NEW DELHI: Bengaluru-based hacker Anand Prakash has been awarded $15,000 (approximately Rs 10 lakh) for finding a bug in Facebook's login system. The bug, if exploited, could let hackers access a user's messages, photos and even debit/credit card details stored in the payments section, among others.
In a blog post, Prakash -- who also works as a security analyst at Flipkart -- said Facebook acknowledged the issue promptly and fixed it.
Prakash sent the bug report to the Facebook security team on February 22 and received a mail about the reward on March 2.
Facebook, as well as many other technology giants, run bug bounty programmes to encourage independent ethical hackers to try and crack their security code in order to identify vulnerabilities in the system. In 2015, the social media giant paid a total of $936,000 to 210 researchers for finding bugs.
Born in Bhadra, Rajasthan, Prakash went to Vellore Institute of Technology to pursue his B Tech in computer science engineering. According toa report by YourStory.com , Prakash has earned over Rs 1 crore so far by finding such bugs and has reported over 80 bugs to Facebook alone. In 2015, he was ranked No. 4 and globally by Facebook for finding the most bugs on the social networking website. Major companies that have paid him for finding bugs in their code include Google, Twitter, Adobe, RedHat, SoundCloud, Nokia, PayPal and eBay, among others.
Prakash's award of $15,000 was towards the high end of the payment spectrum as the average payout for identifying bugs in the system in 2015 was $1,780. Hackers from India, Egypt, and Trinidad & Tobago lead the bounty payout programme.
In a blog post, Prakash -- who also works as a security analyst at Flipkart -- said Facebook acknowledged the issue promptly and fixed it.
Prakash sent the bug report to the Facebook security team on February 22 and received a mail about the reward on March 2.
Facebook, as well as many other technology giants, run bug bounty programmes to encourage independent ethical hackers to try and crack their security code in order to identify vulnerabilities in the system. In 2015, the social media giant paid a total of $936,000 to 210 researchers for finding bugs.
Born in Bhadra, Rajasthan, Prakash went to Vellore Institute of Technology to pursue his B Tech in computer science engineering. According toa report by YourStory.com , Prakash has earned over Rs 1 crore so far by finding such bugs and has reported over 80 bugs to Facebook alone. In 2015, he was ranked No. 4 and globally by Facebook for finding the most bugs on the social networking website. Major companies that have paid him for finding bugs in their code include Google, Twitter, Adobe, RedHat, SoundCloud, Nokia, PayPal and eBay, among others.
Prakash's award of $15,000 was towards the high end of the payment spectrum as the average payout for identifying bugs in the system in 2015 was $1,780. Hackers from India, Egypt, and Trinidad & Tobago lead the bounty payout programme.