Google pays $550,000 to people who found security holes in Android

Google paid 82 people a total of $550,000 in the last year for finding security vulnerabilities that could let hackers compromise phones, tablets, cars and other gadgets powered by the company’s Android software.

The company launched the Android Security Rewards program in June 2015 in an attempt to harden the software. Google offered up to $30,000 for vulnerabilities. Although nobody received that amount, one researcher called heisecode was paid $75,750 for 26 vulnerability reports, Google said in a blog post Thursday.