Google's cash-for-bugs: We've been generous

Google has revealed it would pay out over US$20,000 (A$20,200) in prize money to researchers just a week after launching its expanded cash-for-bugs program, which offers up to US$3,337 for "unusually clever" discoveries.

Researchers were seeking flaws across any of Google's various web properties, such as Google.com and YouTube.com.

Google's security team did not yet outlined the exact nature of the bugs but expected to provide some detail in the coming days.

They said its judging panel had received were of "high quality" reports from researchers, but that they had also been "generous" in awarding cash prizes.

"The review committee has been somewhat generous this first week," they said on Google's Security Blog. "We've granted a number of awards for bugs of low severity, or that wouldn't normally fall under the conditions we originally described."

Google recently posted an updated list of what bugs were in scope and how it valued various different types. Out of scope were its client applications, such as Android and Google Desktop.