Srinagar

A sixth-semester engineering student of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Srinagar, has won the cash prize of Rs 1 lakh for spotting a bug in a digital payment application and saved the multinational company millions of rupees.

Tabrez Alam, a student of Information Technology Engineering fom the NIT, Srinagar had detected the bug in the MobiKwik application. The company awarded him the cash prize and also a certificate of appreciation under the Responsible Disclaimer Program (RDP).

Tabrez, a resident of the village Dhaka in Champaran district of Bihar, had claimed in March about his discovery. He had claimed that MobiKwik was incurring huge financial losses from online shopping websites due to this e-bug. An electronic bug is a malware that is inserted deliberately by hackers. 

He immediately contacted the security officials of the company and after due verification of his claim, he was awarded. he has identified five companies mostly selling electronic equipments that were being used to siphon off the money from Mobiwik whenever the users paid through its payment application.

"After verification and authenticity of my claims, MobiKwik Application co-founder and CEO Bipin Preet Singh handed me a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a letter of appreciation from the company," he told Awaz-the Voice over phone.

He said, "there is no dearth of talent here, but such students need a vibrant platform to move ahead and excel in their higher studies."

Prof. Sehgal encouraged Tabrez to work on his project.

NIT Registrar Prof. Syed Qaiser Bukhari appreciated Tabrez's efforts in bug detection and urged him to work hard in the IT sector. He said "the NIT has developed state-of-the-art facilities for research in the Institute He said the expansion of these facilities will continue.

We will always stand up for our students. Bukhari said that such students are an inspiration to others. In his message, Tabrez expressed his gratitude to Director NIT Srinagar, Registrar, and faculty members for supporting him throughout his research.

About his discovery, Tabrez said that his college had informed Mobikwik about his discovery. Tabrez said this was a very important bug, as it could have caused a financial loss to the tune of crores to the company.

Tabrez said that this is a very serious bug, and therefore he will not make all the facts about his discovery public.