Social network giant Facebook has rewarded a Manipur man for discovering a WhatsApp privacy bug that violated users privacy.
Zonel Sougaijam, a 22-year-old engineer, said that the bug allow a caller to upgrade a voice to a video call without the receiver's knowledge and authorization.
"During a voice call through WhatsApp, the bug used to allow the caller to upgrade it to a video cal without the authorization and knowledge of the receiver. The caller was then able to see what the other person was doing, violating the privacy of the receiver," Sougaijam said.
Sougaijam, said he reported the WhatsApp privacy error to Facebook's Bug Bounty Program who acknowledged his report the next day. He said that the Facebook technical department fixed the bug between 15 and 20 days.
For his discovery, Facebook awarded Sougaijam with $5,000 and has also included him in the 'Facebook Hall of Fame 2019'. He sits at the 16th position in a list of 94.
"After reveiwing this issue, we ave decided to award you a bounty of $5,000," Facebook said in an email sent to Soujaijam.