Google spends $1m to keep Drive secure from vulnerabilities and bugs

Google has announced a $1m (£670,000) programme to make its online storage service, and Microsoft Office clone, Google Drive secure. And it is also offering a bounty to any researchers who report cybersecurity bugs and vulnerabilities to the tech firm.

The internet search giant says it will pay up to $20,000 (£13,500) to cybersecurity researchers that find and report a "qualifying issue".

Google has been running its Vulnerability Reward Programme since 2010, to honour contributors who helps Google eradicate bugs in its products and keep users' data secure. The bounties paid range from $100 for low-priority bugs to $20,000 if a hacker can show how to take over someone's entire Google Account.

Google Drive uses the company's custom-built data centers, which are maintained by more than 500 security experts, independent researchers and software engineers, to store users's photos, videoes, and other important documents. Google claims the security offered by its data centres cannot be matched by any other company providing similar service.