Google has suspended its Open Source Software Vulnerability Rewards Program (OSS VRP), a vulnerability search initiative that paid researchers for finding flaws in the company's open-source software. The pause took effect on October 1, 2026. Google blamed a "significant rise" in automated and AI-generated reports, most of which turned out to be invalid.  Google announced the suspension in posts on X and on the program's website. It said it would provide "an update" in the first quarter of 2027. According to Tom's Hardware, Google engineers and open-source maintainers had been overwhelmed by reports that were invalid or contained hallucinations. 

Why Google Halted OSS VRP 

"This pause is due to a significant rise in automated submissions, the vast majority of which are not valid," the company said. In the meantime, Google is encouraging participants to look at its other bug bounty programs.  As of October 1, 2026, the OSS VRP no longer accepts product vulnerability reports. Some reports involving Google Cloud repositories that affect Cloud products may still be accepted through the Cloud VRP. Flaws in open-source projects closely tied to Cloud or AI products can go to the Cloud VRP or the AI VRP. Researchers can also turn to the Patch Rewards Program, which pays for security improvements to Google's open-source projects. Reports submitted before October 1 are not affected.  Product vulnerabilities previously covered flaws that substantially affected the confidentiality or integrity of user data. Examples included memory corruption in file format parsers or network protocols, sanitizer failures, path traversal, and insecure defaults or code examples in documentation.   For OT0 and OT1 repositories, memory corruption reports required exact OSS-Fuzz reproduction steps or an already merged patch. Non-memory corruption reports did not need a patch. Google also urged researchers to build OSS-Fuzz integrations for important projects that lacked them before reporting. 

How Project Tiers Shape Vulnerability Search Rewards 

Repositories fall into four tiers: 

• Flagship (OT0) projects are the most sensitive and carry the highest payouts. 
• Important (OT1) projects have significant community impact or security criticality. Both OT0 and OT1 are listed at github.com/google/bughunters. 
• Standard (OT2) covers active repositories with stable packages on registries such as npm or PyPI. There is no published list for this tier. 
• Low-priority (OT3) includes experimental, sample, research, and archived projects. These earn no financial rewards. 

Supply chain compromises pay $3,133.7 to $31,337 for OT0, $1,337 to $13,337 for OT1, and $500 to $3,133.7 for OT2. Other security issues, such as leaked write-access credentials or weak passwords on third-party CI systems, earn $1,000 for OT0 and $500 for OT1. OT2 and OT3 projects receive nothing for product vulnerabilities or other security issues.  A reward panel sets final amounts based on security impact alone. It may pay more for clever or wide-reaching bugs and less for those that depend on hypothetical flaws. It typically pays once per root cause, though bonuses of about $1,000 are possible for especially clever findings or well-written reports. Researchers can donate their rewards to charity. Rewards left unclaimed after 12 months go to a charity of Google's choosing.  Several categories are excluded: 

• Issues rooted in downstream integration 
• Typosquatting without proof that build artifacts were compromised 
• Insecure installation instructions 
• Social engineering 
• Bugs with negligible impact 

Google also asks researchers to avoid DoS attacks, black hat SEO, spam, and high-traffic automated testing tools. Reports go through Google's vulnerability form and should include a buildable proof of concept, the affected versions, an impact description, and an attack scenario. 

Iranian cyber actors are using a malware family known as HEAVYGRAM, also tracked as CHOSEN BRICK, to target dissidents, journalists, and opposition groups worldwide, according to a recent FBI FLASH report and a joint advisory from the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the US FBI, and the Netherlands' General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD). The FBI assesses that the malware is deployed on behalf of the Government of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to collect intelligence, conduct data leaks, and cause reputational harm to targets. The joint advisory adds that Iran almost certainly uses cyber activity to support repression of individuals seen as threats to the regime.

Who Is Being Targeted by Iranian Cyber Actors

The victim profile includes Iranian dissidents, journalists opposed to Iran, members of organizations with views countering Government of Iran narratives, and other individuals the Iranian government perceives as threats. The joint advisory notes that CHOSEN BRICK has been used against individuals in the UK, US, and Netherlands since at least 2025, and that personal details of some victims have appeared on pro-Iranian leak sites, increasing risks to their personal safety. In some cases, Iranian intelligence services have plotted to kidnap or conduct lethal operations against individuals abroad who are seen as enemies of the regime.

Social Engineering and Delivery

Iranian cyber actors rely heavily on social engineering to deliver their malware. Actors communicate with targets through platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp, and Instagram, often posing as individuals known to the target or as technical support from the messaging platform. The joint advisory notes that actors research targets in advance to appear credible, and often initiate contact through a target's work device before shifting to personal devices if the initial delivery attempt fails or risks detection. Victims are persuaded to download files disguised as legitimate applications, including Pictory, RunwayML, Norton Antivirus, Telegram, Adobe Flash Player, and KeePass, or files appearing to be MRI scan results. The FBI notes that some victims downloaded AnyDesk and provided access strings, while others downloaded malware masquerading as a program installer. The malware targets only the Windows operating system.

Persistence and Telegram Command and Control

Once installed, the malware achieves persistence by adding registry keys, most often within the Run key at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, so it runs automatically at user login. It also adds exclusions to Microsoft Defender antivirus to evade detection. The malware then connects to Telegram command-and-control infrastructure, with each victim device linked to a unique Telegram Bot ID to prevent cross-contamination between victims. Through Telegram, the malware can enumerate running processes and system information, capture screen content, enable the microphone to record audio, copy Telegram and WhatsApp data from browsers, download additional files, delete files, steal email content, and wipe the computer system. Files and data are exfiltrated through the Telegram bot and cloud object stores such as VultrObjects and StorjShare. Recent variants use HTTPS/SOCKS5 proxies to obscure the use of Telegram bots.

FBI Recommendations

The FBI recommends caution regarding communications from unknown individuals, keeping devices updated, downloading software only from trusted sources, enabling antivirus software, using strong unique passwords with multi-factor authentication, and reporting suspicious messages. The NCSC, FBI, and AIVD jointly recommend phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication, application allowlisting, email scanning security features, and endpoint and network monitoring. Organizations concerned about a potential HEAVYGRAM or CHOSEN BRICK infection are advised to contact their IT providers and check both corporate and personal devices, since the actors also target individuals outside their workplace systems.