Microsoft willing to pay $100k for Windows Zero-Days

Microsoft has declared that it will give security researchers huge sums of cash for creating new exploit mitigation systems, and finding bugs in the beta of Internet Explorer 11 when it’s released later in the month of June.

Exploit bounty contests, where security researchers receive a cash reward from software vendors for disclosing flaws in those vendors’ software, have become an important part of computer security. Discovering faults and creating methods to exploit them can be a difficult and time-consuming process.

Microsoft isn’t supplying rewards for windows security flaws, rather they’re two related programs. The company is offering anywhere up to $100,000 for any attack that bypasses Windows 8.1’s exploitation prevention mechanisms.

In addition to, the company is offering $50,000 for any defensive techniques that would assist in defending against this exploit.

This pair of programs will start on June 26, but unlike the Internet Explorer 11 program, these two will be ongoing, with no fixed end date.