Google adds Android and Apache to open source security rewards programme

Google has extended its Patch Reward Program to include a raft of new platforms and technologies including its own Android system as it looks to improve the securiry of open source software.

The firm announced an overhaul to its security patch policies last month, offering white hats up to $3,133 for fixes.

Google said this would be extended to more platforms before the end of the year and information security engineer for Google Michal Zalewski confirmed the new areas covered by the programme in a blog post. "The goal is very simple: to recognise and reward proactive security improvements to third-party open-source projects that are vital to the health of the entire internet," he wrote in the post. “We started with a fairly conservative scope, but said we would expand the program soon.”