Organisation offers $20,000 for Windows zero-day flaw

Digital Armaments will pay cash or credit to researchers who can prove and document zero-day flaws by midnight EST on Feb. 29, the group announced this month on its website.

Little information is available about the organization, which was founded in 2003 and “believes in information-sharing and proposes detailed analysis of cyberthreats and database-driven web applications,” according to its site.

During the flaw-acquisition process, Digital Armaments will make an offer for a zero-day vulnerability within five days of receiving the submission. The group will “eventually” notify the vulnerable product's vendor, and could release an advisory after the issue is patched, according to the group's website.

A Digital Armaments representative could not be reached for comment.

Digital Armaments is not the first organization to offer bounties for Windows security flaws. A year ago, VeriSign iDefense offered a total of US$48,000 -- US$8,000 apiece -- for the first six remotely exploitable flaws for Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7.

Switzerland-based WabiSabiLabi launched an eBay-like marketplace last July designed to financially reward researchers while keeping sensitive information out of the hands of criminals.