Security is one of those issues which is consistently hitting the headlines on a daily basis now. While the battle of whether smartphones should include breakable encryption continues, the more general threat of security is one which continues to be relevant. Of course, many of the big tech companies actively look to patch and fix security issues and Google is no exception. As well as rolling out monthly updates with all the currently known security vulnerabilities, Google has for quite a long time now been heading up a bug bounty program which pays those who can find flaws with their various systems. This is the ‘Google Security Reward Program’. Last month saw Google announce an expansion of the bug bounty program to include Vulnerability Research Grants which looks to pay individuals in advance of finding certain flaws. Following which, Google has now today announced another expansion to the program and one which focuses specifically on two areas of concern for Google, Chrome and Chromebooks.

In terms of Chrome, the expansion now includes a bounty for ‘Download Protection Bypassing’. The main purpose of this particular bounty is for Google to identify ways in which Chrome’s Safe Browsing can be compromised. As Safe Browsing is designed to mitigate against URLs which could contain malware or phishing, Google seem particularly interested now in identifying any breaches in the system that is set up to ensure its browser does offer complete security from phishing and malware attacks.

Moving on to Chromebooks and it seems Google is looking to up the ante to ensure that Chromebooks remain protected. Google notes that the reward for being able to successfully show a compromising of a Chromebook while in Guest Mode used to stand at $50,000. However, Google also notes that they have not yet received any successful claims for that reward and as a means to incentivize hackers further, Google has now announced that the bounty for this particular issue has been doubled to $100,000.