Guwahati: Assam born cyber security expert, Rony Das, has been rewarded by Google for reporting a bug in the Android Foreground Services which could be exploited by someone to hack into user data.
Das reported the bug to Google in May, 2021, after almost six months, Google rewarded him with $5000 USD for reporting the bug. Rony Das said that he was creating a software when he faced some technical problems. He was trying to solve the issue which led him to the discovery of this particular vulnerability.
“As a recognition of your efforts, we would like to offer you a discretionary reward of $5000. Please note this is a one-time exception to our normal procedures as a thank you for the high-quality submission and follow up information you provided,” said an email from Google Android Security Team to Das.
Das said that the bug he found defeats the purpose of having Android Foreground Services. His exploit bypasses this process and is able to access the hardware such as camera, microphone and location from the background without letting the user know or notifying anything.
Das further added that the bug has been fixed in the upcoming Android versions.
