Pondicherry Student Helps Facebook, Google And Microsoft

Anand Meyappan, a postgraduate student of Information Security at Pondicherry Engineering College (PEC), in Kalapet, recently discovered bugs on social networking site Facebook, Google’s Admeld, Microsoft’s Skype and on a Yahoo website. Not only did he report the bugs but also helped the websites fix these issues, winning cash rewards and job offers in return.

‘Bugs’ is the technical term used for software errors that could lead to unexpected results and even to hacking. These websites, Google, Facebook, Yahoo rank among the toppers in the Alexa rankings, the world’s foremost rankings for websites. A bug in these sites, or even in Skype, can make huge losses for these billion dollar companies. Anand, who hails from Andaman, helped save the companies before getting into any such trouble.

The websites and the software honoured Anand by listing him in their ‘Hall of Fame’ pages. Along with that the young student received job offers from the companies.

However, Anand is adamant about not joining a job before completing his post graduate degree. “I get lot of job opportunities from software giants and social networking firms. Presently, I want to focus on my PG course. I will join a firm of my choice after my studies,” Anand said, according to a TNN report.

It began when Anand found a “cross site scripting” bug on Microsoft’s skype.com and alerted the software firm as early as 2012. “The bug can hijack users’ sessions and redirect to a website to the hijackers’ choice. It can hack the users’ login credentials and information with some social engineering techniques,” he said.

Following that, Anand went on to find and help fix more than 20 bugs on reputed websites. He found and fixed a bug, ‘cross site request forgery’ (CSRF) at giftcards.com.

“The hackers can take over giftcards accounts of the users and their passwords. They can change the email and their account balance,” said Anand, who has not only earned a great deal of respect and repute for himself but also for his institution. PEC which has recently earned the status of an autonomous institution, has one more laurel in its bag, in the form of Anand Meyappan.

Giftcards awarded Anand with $3600, Facebook 500$, and Google $100. Anand also found bugs on the websites of AT&T and Nokia. Having fixed them, his research led him on to finding bugs on a Yahoo website.

“The vulnerabilities on the Yahoo website are yet to be fixed. I will not be in a position to share details until the bugs are fixed,” he said.

The whole incident opened up a great deal of opportunities for the young engineer. As per his plans go, he is adamant on going ahead with further research with the resolve of making the  Internet a safer place, helping others in the field of information security.