Following in the footsteps of Google and Facebook, software giant Microsoft is offering financial rewards for information about security bugs in their new Windows operating system, Windows 8.1. The company is offering up to $100,000 to any savvy developer or hacker that can uncover vulnerabilities and holes in the beta version, which is due to launch at the end of June.

In addition to this, if an individual can find a weakness in Windows 8.1 and suggest a secure fix to the problem, they may be in line for an extra payment of up to $50,000. The company is spreading the competition to another of its products, offering up to $11,000 if anyone can uncover critical security issues with the Internet Explorer 11 Preview that comes partnered with the Windows 8.1 Preview.

Speaking about potential holes within the software, Mike Reavey, director of Microsoft’s Security Response Centre said they are “super challenging to discover and they require a new technique. Learning about new exploitation techniques earlier helps Microsoft improve security by leaps, instead of capturing one vulnerability at a time as a traditional bug bounty alone would.”

Perhaps the most surprising part of the announcement isn't the company's about-face on the subject of using hackers - it's the fact that they're offering far greater rewards than their contemporaries who've been using this method for a while. With financial incentives playing an increasingly important role in motivating hackers, Microsoft seem to have accepted the fact that moral authority isn't always enough to bring the bad guys over to their side. As Senior Security Strategist Kate Moussouris acknowledges, "We may not always have 100% philosophical alignment, but we always want to keep a dialogue open with the research community to further the common goal of protecting customers."

If you can't quite afford to offer similar rewards for hackers to test your personal computer's security, one way to up your defences is through using a VPN service. The VPN works as an additional layer of security that stands between the data stored on your devices and anyone else attempting to access it.


 
We’ve added 5 servers, 640 IP addresses and 1 NEW country to the Hide My Ass! VPN Network
Posted on June 24, 2013   

We’ve added 5 servers, 640 IP addresses and 1 NEW country to the Hide My Ass! VPN Network

    South Africa, Johannesburg (123 IPs)
    USA, New York, Buffalo (LOC1 S3) (131 IPs)
    USA, New York, Buffalo (LOC1 S2) (131 IPs)
    USA, New York, Buffalo (LOC1 S1) (131 IPs)
    Turkey, Istanbul (124 IPs)

You may have spotted that we have a brand new country in our database. Please welcome South Africa to our VPN server network!

Random Fact about South Africa

South Africa is one of the most generously endowed geographic solar hotspots in the world, soaking up just over half of the world’s highest category of solar wattage per square yard of land.


Google given 35 days to delete data it collected ‘by mistake’

 No stranger to privacy controversy, internet giant Google has now been given 35 days by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office to delete the data it collected ‘by mistake’ while taking Street View pictures in 2010. Failure to do so will place the company in 'contempt of court,' provoking criminal charges.

The office reopened its investigation into Google last year in response to learning more about the data the company ‘mistakenly collected’ from unsecured wireless networks in towns and cities. The investigation uncovered additional discs containing the private data which Google had previously promised to destroy. The company admitted that it had ‘accidentally’ kept hold of the discs, which prompted the ICO to warn Google that it must be told if any more discs are found.

The company has managed to escape a fine thanks to the office’s decision that the actions didn’t originate from a corporate level and that ‘the detriment caused to individuals by this breach fails to meet the level required to issue a monetary penalty’.The UK ruling is at odds with decisions made by other countries suffering from similar Google privacy issues, where heavy fines have been levied. The US Federal Communications Commission demanded a $25,000 fine last year, after the engineer who wrote the software code designed to collect information told the commission that at least two other employees – including one senior manager – knew about the programme. The FCC found data from 30 countries that included emails, instant messages and log-in credentials and accused Google of delaying the investigation for months.

Across Europe, similar stories are emerging. France recently imposed a three month deadline for the company to improve its internet privacy policies, and Spain and Germany have already imposed fines, causing UK campaigner Nick Perkins of Big Brother Watch to observe that the absence of a fine in Britain could give the impression that, 'our privacy is somehow less worthy of protection.'

If you have concerns about your internet security, try using a VPN service. A VPN gives your computer an extra layer of protection when you’re surfing the internet to help make sure your private data stays private.