Instagram has just made a huge payout to a 10-year-old, but for what reason? Facebook encourages people to find bugs and flaws within Facebook’s digital infrastructure, in fact they even reward the people who discover errors with cash rewards through a bounty program. So when a 10-year-old found a significant flaw in Instagram (owned by Facebook) he cashed in with this bounty program receiving $10,000.
10-year-old found a significant flaw in Instagram.
This 10-year-old is Jani (last name was not disclosed) from Helsinki. He discovered through this error that he could delete people’s comments in the site. This was done by implanting malicious code into the comment area. Jani even mentioned that he could delete comments off Justin Bieber’s account if he so desired.
He demonstrated his ability to use the malicious code by deleting a comment from a test account that was made. Although Jani is only 10-years-old this is not the first time he has discovered security errors within websites before. Jani’s father said that Jani and his twin brother have found numerous other errors, however, none of them were substantial enough to receive a payout.
Youngest person to receive payout.
Jani is the youngest person to receive a payout from the bounty program. He informed Instagram about the error he discovered in February.
Facebook utilizes its bug bounty program to discover and eliminate any flaws or errors that are discovered in its system. In 2015 alone, Facebook paid out a total of $936,000 through its bug bounty program. Overall since the program began in 2011, $4.3 million has been awarded and greater than 2,400 valid submissions have been acknowledged.
Stories like this show how important social media has become and every business should take advantage of the social media services that are available to them!