Samsung bug bounty: Hackers offered up to $200,000 to find bugs affecting smartphones

Samsung will pay out hackers up to $200,000 (£151,819) for finding vulnerabilities affecting its mobile devices. The tech giant has launched a bug bounty program that will reward anyone that can identify bugs that affect not just its mobile devices but other services such as Bixby, Samsung Pay, Samsung Account, Samsung Pass, among others.

Samsung's Mobile Security Rewards Program will cover 38 mobile devices, including the Galaxy S, Galaxy Note, Galaxy A, Galaxy J, and the Galaxy Tab series, as well as the flagship devices, the S8, S8+, and Note 8.

"As a leading provider of mobile devices and experiences, Samsung recognizes the importance of protecting users' data and information, and prioritizes security in the development of each of its products and services," Injong Rhee Executive VP and Head of R&D, at Samsung said in a statement. "As part of our commitment to security, Samsung is proud to work in close partnership with the security research community to ensure that all of our products are monitored closely and continually for any potential vulnerabilities."

Bug bounty programs have become commonplace among tech firms over the past few years. The scale of cyberattacks has steadily increased in the past few years, especially given how hackers have increasingly begun exploiting security vulnerabilities to launch massive attacks against firms. Google, Apple and Facebook, among others have taken to conducting an annual bug bounty program, encouraging those in the infosec community to help find flaws in their systems to keep malicious hacking at bay.

The US military also recently joined the fray, with both the US army and the air force launching their own bug bounty programs, those saw hackers paid various sums of money in exchange for discovering security flaws. These programs have helped independent security researchers rake in thousands legally, with one 10-year-old boy even making $10,000 after hacking Instagram.