Following a rise in cyber attacks, Microsoft, like many other companies, looks to be trying to bolster security ahead of the launch of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.
The company announced the expansion of its Bounty Program to the whole of Windows 10, and will pay anyone who manages to uncover certain types of vulnerabilities and exploitation techniques in the Insider Preview.
In fact, the rewards for successfully reporting such vulnerabilities range from $15,000 (about £11,433) to $30,000 (about £22,866).
Related: Windows 10 Fall Creators update
The newly expanded program concerns the Windows Insider Preview features and the Windows Defender Application Guard in WIP slow.
As Microsoft explains on the Bounty programs page: “Since June 2013, we’ve also offered bounties for certain classes of vulnerabilities reported to us.
“These bounty programs help Microsoft harness the collective intelligence and capabilities of security researchers to help protect customers.”
It’s all designed to identify and patch security flaws before software is released, though some bounty programs have been extended past the launch of a specific software package.
Previous bounty programs have covered programs including Internet Explorer 11, eventually expanding to offer rewards to anyone finding flaws in the Hyper-V hypervisor, Windows’ exploit mitigation systems such as DEP and ASLR, and the Edge browser.
Financial rewards have ranged from as little as $500 (about £380) in the past to as much as $250,000 (about £190,550).
The newly-launched bounty program is not tied to any specific program but aims to make sure Windows packages not covered by other bounty scheme are being monitored.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
