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Business Daily: How Bounties Can Help Beat the Hackers

09/09/2013

How Bounties Can Help Beat the Hackers

BBC World Service - Business Daily, How Bounties Can Help Beat the Hackers

Why computer firms are now offering bounties in a bid to beat the hackers

Why computer firms are offering bounties in a bid to beat the hackers. And, Lucy Kellaway gives tips on what words to use if you want to be certain you email will be read.

The sheriffs of the Wild West knew how to get their man - they would offer a generous bounty to anyone who would bring him in. On Business Daily we discover how computer companies are doing the same in a bid to beat the hackers. They are now offering big bounties - sometimes more than a hundred thousand dollars - to anyone who can point out weaknesses in their system.  

We find out how it isn't just criminal hackers who are trying to crack code. Increasingly, governments are trying to break in too - as reports that the American security service has breached the codes that protect data on iPhones, Blackberries and Android devices confirm.  

We talk to online security expert Dave Clemente, from Chatham House, about the latest strategies for tackling computer hacking.

Plus Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times gives tips on what words to use if you want to be certain your email will be read.

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