Ethical Hacking News
Microsoft has significantly expanded its Zero Day Quest prize pool to $5 million, as part of a broader initiative to encourage security researchers to identify vulnerabilities in its cloud and AI products and platforms. With increased rewards and opportunities for collaboration, Microsoft aims to promote a culture of security transparency and continuous improvement.
Micorosft is expanding its Zero Day Quest prize pool to $5 million. The contest, which runs from August 4 to October 4, 2025, offers multiplied bounty payouts for critical vulnerabilities. Top-performing researchers will be invited to a live hacking event at Microsoft's Redmond campus in Spring 2026. Micorosft is expanding its bug bounty programs, including increased rewards and payouts for certain types of vulnerabilities.
Microsoft has announced a significant expansion of its Zero Day Quest prize pool, increasing it to $5 million, as part of the company's efforts to encourage security researchers to identify vulnerabilities in its cloud and AI products and platforms. This move comes after last year's contest generated significant participation from the security community, with the company paying out $1.6 million for more than 600 vulnerability submissions.
The Zero Day Quest is a research challenge open to all security researchers, who can submit their findings between August 4 and October 4, 2025. In addition to the increased prize pool, participants will also be eligible for multiplied bounty payouts for reporting critical vulnerabilities. Specifically, researchers will receive +50% bounty multipliers for Critical severity vulnerabilities and high-impact scenarios discovered during the Research Challenge that align with the new and existing Microsoft Azure, Copilot, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform, Identity, or M365 Bounty Programs.
To recognize and reward the most impactful research, Microsoft has also invited top-performing researchers to a live hacking event at its Redmond campus in Spring 2026. This invitation-only competition will bring together leading security researchers to collaborate directly with the Microsoft Security Response Center and Microsoft product teams. Additionally, participants will have access to training sessions from Microsoft's AI Red Team, MSRC, and Dynamics teams, covering topics such as AI system testing, bug bounty programs, and security research methodologies.
The contest is part of Microsoft's Secure Future Initiative (SFI), a cybersecurity engineering effort launched in November 2023. This initiative aims to address the company's security culture shortcomings, as stated by the Cyber Safety Review Board of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. By transparently sharing critical vulnerabilities through the CVE program and learning from the Zero Day Quest, Microsoft hopes to improve its Cloud and AI security in alignment with SFI's core principles: securing by default, by design, and in operations.
Furthermore, this year's contest marks an expansion of Microsoft's bug bounty programs. For some .NET and ASP.NET Core vulnerabilities, the company has increased rewards to $40,000, while Power Platform and Dynamics 365 AI vulnerability payouts have also been expanded. Additionally, Microsoft Copilot (AI) security flaws will now receive higher payouts for moderate-severity vulnerabilities, with a 100% award multiplier introduced for all Copilot bounty awards to incentivize AI research.
The Secure Future Initiative is a significant step forward in Microsoft's commitment to cybersecurity and secure software engineering practices. By engaging the security community through initiatives like Zero Day Quest and expanding its bug bounty programs, the company aims to promote a culture of security transparency and continuous improvement. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, it is essential for companies like Microsoft to stay ahead of emerging threats by fostering collaboration with security researchers and investing in research and development.
In conclusion, Microsoft's expansion of the Zero Day Quest prize pool represents a significant investment in the company's security posture and its commitment to engaging with the security community. By providing increased rewards and opportunities for collaboration, Microsoft aims to encourage researchers to identify vulnerabilities and contribute to the development of more secure software engineering practices.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/MICROSOFT-UNVEILS-EXPANDED-ZERO-DAY-QUEST-PRIZE-POOL-AND-RESEARCH-CHALLENGE-TO-ENCOURAGE-SECURITY-RESEARCHERS-ehn.shtml
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-announces-5-million-prize-pool-for-zero-day-quest-hacking-contest/
Published: Tue Aug 5 05:26:13 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
