Microsoft announced a new bug bounty program for Windows products that offers payouts ranging from $500 to $250,000.
The new program expands the firm's existing bounty program to now include all features of the Windows Insider Preview, in addition to focus areas in Hyper-V, Mitigation bypass, Windows Defender Application Guard, and Microsoft Edge, according to a July 26 press release.
“Microsoft strongly believes in the value of the bug bounties, and we trust that it serves to enhance our security capabilities,” the release said.
The overall program is built to highlight any critical or important class remote code execution, elevation of privilege, or design flaws that compromises a customer's privacy and security and will. While Microsoft has held individual contests awarding cash prizes for identifying exploits in products such as Office 365 or its Defense program, this is the first time it has held an open and ongoing bounty program for Windows bugs.
