Microsoft to reward hackers for finding bugs in Windows

The company has announced that it will pay up to 100,000 US dollars for finding mitigation bypass techniques in Windows 8

Software giant Microsoft has decided to reward security researchers to report bugs and find novel methods for exploiting the security built into the latest version of Windows.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Microsoft has announced that it will pay up to 100,000 US dollars for finding mitigation bypass techniques in Windows 8 and those who can demonstrate a way to block the new attack method can earn 50,000 dollars more.

Windows computers have been involved in major attacks including the Citadel crime in which more than 500 million dollars were stolen from banks and Stuxnet virus, which attacked Iran's nuclear programme in 2010.

The report said that the reward programme will launch on June 26 and will pay only for 'truly novel exploitation techniques' and the additional sum for the defensive ideas to mitigate the exploitation.

In addition to this, Microsoft is also offering reward of 11,000 dollars for finding critical flaws in Internet Explorer 11 preview on the latest Windows version.

Director of Microsoft's Security Response Center, Mike Reavey said that the research gleaned may turn out to be useful in hardening older versions of Windows and IE and the company was focused on fixing big security issues before releasing the new products.

Former analyst at NSA and security researcher, Charlie Miller applauded Microsoft's step and said that the company is trying to get the bugs worked out before the commercial launch as people care less about software betas, the report added.