Facebook Patches Webcam Vulnerability After Receiving Hacker Tip

Facebook Inc. has patched a security vulnerability that would have allowed hackers to turn on users’ webcams without their knowledge and post videos to their profiles.

The bug was discovered in July by two computer-security researchers in India, according to Fred Wolens, spokesman for Facebook. Aditya Gupta and Subho Halder, founders of a consulting firm called XY Security, reported their findings to Facebook, which paid them $2,500 for the information, Bloomberg.com reported on its Tech Blog. Facebook seems to have deemed this particular bug as "serious" because the company paid five times its usual price, the two researchers said.