Google has increased the amount it will pay security researchers for information about flaws in its Chrome browser, having already shelled out more than $2m in bug bounties across its various security reward programs.

"In a nutshell, bugs previously rewarded at the $1,000 level will now be considered for reward at up to $5,000," Chris Evans and Adam Mein, the Chocolate Factory's "masters of coin", wrote in a blog post on Monday.

The most prolific of bug finders, Sergey Glazunov, has claimed bounties totaling more than $150,000 to date.

A recent paper published by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley found that over a three-year period, Google's bug bounty programs cost it less than it would likely have paid a single full-time employee.

Hackers who are interested in cutting themselves a slice of Google's bug-bounty pie are directed to the company's guidelines for reward eligibility, as well as to its directions explaining how to do a good job of reporting bugs.