Google paid $12,012 to a security researcher who bought Google.com for 1 minute

Last year, security researcher Sanmay Ved managed to purchase Google.com’s main domain name for approximately one minute.

As a result of this feat, Ved was reportedly generously rewarded by Google, although until now it’s been unclear exactly how much the company paid out to the white hat hacker.

At one point Ved said that Google’s payout was north of $10,000, and it seems his claim was accurate. According to Google’s 2015 Security Rewards Year in Review, the company paid out exactly $6,006.13 to Ved.

“You may have read about Sanmay Ved, a researcher who was able to buy google.com for one minute on Google Domains. Our initial financial reward to Sanmay– $6,006.13 – spelled-out Google, numerically (squint a little and you’ll see it!). We then doubled this amount when Sanmay donated his reward to charity,” reads a direct quote from Google’s security reward report.

So in total, $12,012.26 was given to Sanmay Ved, doubling Google’s initial $6,006.13 offer. Google reportedly decided to increase the amount of money it planned to reward Ved after the hacker revealed his intentions to donate the money to a foundation called ‘The Art of Living India,’ an organization that helps bring education to impoverished regions of India.

[source]Google[/source][via]9to5 Google[/via]