UPES student enters Google’s Hall of Fame for reporting a bug

Third-year B.Tech. student Varun Gupta submitted a valid bug to Google under the tech giant’s bug bounty program, in which ethical hackers try to discover vulnerabilities on Google’s various websites and applications

Varun Gupta, a third-year student of B.Tech. (CSE with specialization in Cyber Security and Forensics), successfully submitted a valid bug to Google, which earned him a position on the list of Google’s Hall of Fame. Under the bug bounty program, ethical hackers try to discover vulnerabilities on Google’s various websites and applications. If an ethical hacker discovers any vulnerability, he reports it back to Google. If the report is valid, Google provides the hacker cash reward and a place in its Hall of Fame as a token of appreciation.

“The knowledge and experience I gained during my internship proved to be valuable in this endeavour. I am grateful to UPES for providing me opportunities in the form of labs, study materials and enlightening seminars with industry experts. I am also thankful to my faculty, Ms. Tripti Misra, for guiding me on the path of cyber security,” Varun informed.

Google’s Bug-hunter Hall of Fame has a group of top contributors, who make a difference and become a bug hunter using ethical hacking. These hackers get to join world-class security experts to help Google keep the web safe for everyone. Bug hunters also get cash as a reward for reporting valid security bug in Google code.

A message from Varun

“During my initial years at UPES, I had a vague idea about cyber security. However, the curriculum for my specialization as well as my participation in various events and competitions related to cyber security organized by UPES and various student chapters got me ignited my interest in researching deeper into this field. While trying to gain some practical knowledge, I tried finding bugs in several smaller websites. However, most of these bugs were either duplicate or not critical enough to warrant a substantial reward as they can be detected by any armchair bug hunter. With experience, I started discovering more considerable bugs, for which I got appreciation and hall of fame from several organizations. Since then, I have continued to increase my knowledge and explored other areas of cyber security such as Android bug hunting and network pen-testing. I intend to keep broadening my horizons to tackle new cyber threats arising with the advancement of technology.”