Google paid nearly $3 million to security researchers in 2017 who reported valid vulnerabilities in its products.

The internet giant said that it paid out $1.1 million in rewards for vulnerabilities discovered in Google products, and roughly the same amount to the researchers who reported security bugs in Android. With the bug bounties awarded for Chrome flaws added to the mix, a total of $2.9 million was paid throughout the year.

In the seven years since Google’s Vulnerability Reward Program was launched, the search giant has paid almost $12 million in rewards.

Last year, 274 researchers received rewards for their vulnerability reports, and a total of 1,230 individual rewards were paid, Google says.

North Korea-linked hackers targeted cryptocurrency investors and exchanges just as bitcoin started to soar to record highs, according to a new report.

Cybersecurity firm Recorded Future said malware used in the attacks was similar to that used in the Sony Pictures hack, the global WannaCry ransomware attack and the major cyberheist that hit Bangladesh’s central bank.

North Korea Targeted South Korean Cryptocurrency Users and Exchange in Late 2017 Campaign
https://www.recordedfuture.com/north-korea-cryptocurrency-campaign/

The Equifax breach, WannaCry, NotPetya, the NSA leak, and many more cyber incidents – 2017 was certainly a busy year for hackers, illustrating yet again just how vital innovative cybersecurity solutions are in the fight against cyber threats.

Second only to the U.S., in terms of cybersecurity investment 2017 was another excellent year for Israeli cybersecurity startups

Facebook received over 12,000 vulnerability submissions in 2017 and ended up paying $880,000 in bug bounties to security researchers.

Of the large number of received submissions, however, just over 400 reports were found valid during the bug bounty program’s sixth year. Last year, Facebook also paid larger bounties to the submitting researchers, as the average reward per submission increased to almost $1,900, up from $1,675 in 2016.

Border Agents’ Searches of Travelers’ Phones Skyrocketed, Agency Says
Customs and Border Protection also unveils new policy for searching and seizing electronic devices
https://www.wsj.com/articles/border-agents-searches-of-travelers-phones-skyrocketed-agency-says-1515179058

The Necurs botnet started 2017 with a four-month vacation, but ended the year sending tens of millions of spam emails daily as part of massive ransomware distribution campaigns.

Los Angeles police arrested a 25-year-old man in a suspected “swatting” hoax 911 call in Kansas that ended in the fatal police shooting of an unarmed man.

The LAPD took Tyler Barriss of Los Angeles into custody in that city on Friday afternoon, on a fugitive warrant stemming from the Thursday evening incident in Kansas, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Police in Wichita fatally shot a man identified by family members as Andrew Finch, 28, after officers responded to a hoax 911 call, police in Kansas said.

Barriss allegedly made the false report after getting into some kind of dispute with another person in connection with online gaming

But instead the address was for the home of Finch, who was not involved in the dispute, the sources said.

The caller claimed his father had been shot in the head, and that he was holding his mother and a sibling at gunpoint

“What gives the cops the right to open fire?” she asked. “That cop murdered my son over a false report in the first place.”

Dexerto, an online news service focused on gaming, reported that the series of events began with an online argument over a $1 or $2 wager in a “Call of Duty” game on UMG Gaming,

The FBI estimates that roughly 400 cases of swatting occur annually, with some using caller ID spoofing to disguise their number.