$10,000 dollars for hacking into everyone’s favorite image-based social media network anyone?
Apparently a 10 year old from Finland did just that. Even though the kid doesn’t own a bank account (on account of his very young age), Facebook will be giving the boy some serious pocket money that will set him for the immediate future.
Meet Jani from Finland – The Bug Hunter
Jani discovered a security flaw in Instagram, a bug that could allow him to delete comments by other users willy-nilly.
Facebook quickly fixed the issue after it was brought to their notice by Jani. Facebook happens to be the parent company of Instagram.
Under Facebook’s bug hunting program, Jani was entitled to a bounty of $10,000 which was also paid to him soon after the bug was found.
The flaw was first discovered in February by the 10 year old in question. He emailed Facebook and alerted them to it.
The Helsinki-based Jani was approached by Facebook’s security engineers, who promptly set up a test account for him on Instagram to test out his theory.
When asked by a newspaper what he intends to do with his winnings, Jani mentioned that he has plans to buy football equipment, a bike, and couple of computers for his brothers.
About Facebook’s Bug Hunt Program
To date, Facebook has paid $4.3 million to individuals who have identified security vulnerabilities in Facebook products (like Messenger and Instagram) since 2011.
The Bug Hunt initiative is hardly unique to Facebook as many other tech companies have similar programs in place. They can help them make their products more secure.
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