Microsoft hands out $100,000 in bounty for Windows 8.1 flaw; fixes critical IE vulnerability

Microsoft has awarded its first $100,000 bounty reward to a security researcher for discovering a issues in Windows 8.1. The company kicked off the compensation hunt for flaws and vulnerabilities in both Cyberspace Explorer 11 and Windows 8.1, with bounties ranging upward to $11,000 and $100,000 respectively.

The large bounty was picked up by James Forshaw, a security researcher at Context Information Security. Detailing a issues that bypassed protections in the preview version of windows viii.i, Forshaw was able to pocketbook the total $100,000 advantage. Microsoft volition particular the exploit once the visitor has addressed it.

So how much has Microsoft paid out altogether for bugs in its bounty programs? Over $128,000. While the IE11 hunt has come to a close, the visitor is notwithstanding looking for any bugs in Windows 8.one, so be sure to become hunting if you're subsequently a advantage for making the OS more secure for consumers.

Besides equally focusing on securing its software with help from the community, Microsoft continues to release security updates to address vulnerabilities in its products. We can relay that Microsoft has patched a critical flaw in Internet Explorer that could expose users to malware and hacks for at least three months.

The exploit, known every bit CVE-2013-3893, had the capability to integrate into all supported versions of the pop web browser. Microsoft acknowledged the vulnerability in September, releasing a temporary tool to patch IE until the permanent ready was released. Microsoft's Dustin Childs said the following in a web log mail service:

"The almost astringent vulnerabilities could allow remote lawmaking execution if a customer views a specially crafted webpage using Internet Explorer. An aggressor who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could gain the aforementioned rights as the current user running Internet Explorer."

The patch contains not but the fix for this issue, simply also 10 other problems within IE. 26 different vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer, SharePoint, .Cyberspace Framework, Office, Silverlight, and more were likewise highlighted in the web log post.

Source: Microsoft (1) (2), via: CNET, The Verge; thank you, unstoppablekem, for the tip!

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