A young hacker here in Kollam (Kerala) has been rewarded Rs 10.70 lakh ($16,000) abundance in the wake of finding a vulnerability in Facebook code. Facebook started the bug abundance programme in 2011, under which individuals who offer imperfections on its sites are given a prize. Arun S Kumar, a 20-year-old PC building understudy at the MES Institute of Technology and Management in Chathannoor, uncovered a basic weakness in Facebook Business Manager which would permit a programmer to take control over the Facebook page in under 10 seconds.
[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”]According to a source, Arun said, “Since the hacker would be able to manipulate the page of any Facebook user, the damage it would bring is beyond imagination,”
He recognized the bug on August 23 and reported it to the Facebook Security Group. One of them composed back to him the exact following day saying that how his disclosure helped them keep a huge security breach. The team fixed the bug by September 6 and after three days Arun got a mail from them informing him of their decision to reward him.
Arun has a history of bug hunting. He had seen numerous bugs in Google and Facebook before. Facebook had paid out a Rs 7 lakh bounty to him in April for finding a vulnerability. The young techie has gotten about Rs 30.85 lakh ($46,000) in payouts for chasing down bugs in the previous three years.
Facebook had invited him in August this year along with three other hackers from different countries for a meeting with its security members at Las Vegas. He was also awarded the tenth place in the Facebook’s hall of fame of the white hat hackers. He is the only Indian to be honored in the website’s hall of fame.
Arun, a local from mudakkal, Kollam said that he wished to utilize the prize cash to store his advanced education abroad. His dad, P S Sureshkumar, is an assistant with the state government and mother, Nagalakshmi K, a housewife.
[/su_expand]
