Chinese hacker wins $112,500 from Google
This week, Google announced that it had awarded a sum of $112,500 to Guang Gong, a Chinese researcher who works for Chinese internet security giant Qihoo 360, for discovering a security issue which affected Pixel phones. This is the largest amount Google has ever paid as bug bounty. But, Gong is no ordinary researcher - along with his team, Gong is a pro hacker.
Gong exposed a bug which could lead to data theft
In August 2017, Gong uncovered a bug in Pixel phones which could potentially be exploited to steal data, and submitted his findings. Thanks to Gong's discovery, Google was able to fix the bug through a patch in December. Co-incidentally, in June, Google had announced increments in payouts under its Android Security Reward program which allows researchers to submit vulnerability reports and get rewarded.
Gong and his team made half-a-million dollars through hacking
Gong and his team at Qihoo 360 are pro hackers and they have the credentials to show it. At Pwn2Own 2016, a prestigious annual hacking contest, Gong and his team cracked the first generation Google Pixel in 60 seconds, bagging the first prize and $120,000. The team eventually netted a total of $520,000 in prize money for hacking multifarious software services, including Adobe Flash.
