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10 year old hacks Instagram, paid $10,000 by Facebook
“I would have been able to eliminate anyone,” Jani told the Finnish publication Iltalehti, “even Justin Bieber.” Facebook has revealed that the vulnerability was located in a private application programming interface that was failing to check whether the user making an action to delete a comment was the same user who posted it.
Jani says his prize money will go toward football equipment and a new bicycle. He hopes to be a security expert when he grows up, and it seems he’s well on his way. The skills he developed simply from watching YouTube videos allowed him to find a bug in one of the world’s largest social media platforms.
Facebook’s bug bounty program is an ongoing incentive that offers cash rewards to anyone who is able to report and verify vulnerabilities. In 2015 alone, the program paid out $936,000 to 210 researchers with the average payout landing at $1,780. Since its launch in 2011, the program has awarded over $4.3 million to bug-hunting researchers.
What do you think of Facebook’s youngest security defender? Let us know your take on this story in the comments below!