Google awards over $17 million to security researchers in 2025

Google paid out more than $17 million to 747 security researchers who identified and reported bugs through its Vulnerability Reward Program (VRP) in 2025. This marks an all-time high for the company's bug bounty payouts, representing a more than 40% increase compared to the previous year. The highest single reward in 2025 reached $250,000, Bleeping Computer reports.

The company's VRP has awarded over $81.6 million in total since its inception in 2010. In 2025, Google expanded its efforts by launching a dedicated AI Vulnerability Rewards Program, offering up to $30,000 for flaws in its AI systems, and introduced new reward categories for AI-related bugs within the Chrome VRP. Additionally, a rewards program was established for OSV-SCALIBR, an open-source tool designed to detect security vulnerabilities in software dependencies.

Specific program payouts in 2025 included over $2.9 million for Android and Google Devices, $3.7 million for Chrome, and $3.5 million for the Cloud VRP.

Source: Bleeping Computer