Microsoft has announced the return of its groundbreaking Zero Day Quest, the largest public hacking event in history, offering unprecedented bounty rewards of up to $5 million for high-impact security research.
Building upon last year’s successful $4 million initiative, this enhanced program demonstrates Microsoft’s commitment to collaborative security through responsible vulnerability disclosure and community engagement.
The Zero Day Quest represents a paradigm shift in how technology giants approach cybersecurity challenges.
By incentivizing global security researchers to identify critical vulnerabilities before malicious actors can exploit them, Microsoft is effectively crowdsourcing its defense mechanisms across Cloud and AI infrastructure.
This proactive approach addresses the evolving threat landscape where traditional security measures often lag behind sophisticated attack vectors.
The competition targets Microsoft’s most critical platforms including Azure cloud services, Copilot AI systems, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Identity services, and Microsoft 365.
Microsoft analysts identified these platforms as priority targets due to their widespread enterprise adoption and the potential cascading effects of successful exploits.
The company’s Security Response Center (MSRC) has strategically focused the contest on scenarios where vulnerabilities could have the highest business and security impact.
The technical framework operates through a two-phase structure beginning with the Zero Day Quest Research Challenge from August 4 to October 4, 2025.
During this period, qualifying vulnerability submissions receive a substantial +50% bounty multiplier for Critical severity findings.
The program incorporates Microsoft’s Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure protocols, ensuring that discovered vulnerabilities follow responsible disclosure practices before public revelation.
Qualifying researchers gain access to an exclusive invite-only Live Hacking Event at Microsoft’s Redmond campus in Spring 2026, where they collaborate directly with Microsoft engineering teams.
The program includes comprehensive training modules covering AI red team methodologies using PyRIT (Python Risk Identification Toolkit), advanced bug bounty techniques, and specialized security research in Copilot Studio environments.
This technical education component ensures researchers can effectively target Microsoft’s complex AI and cloud architectures while maintaining ethical boundaries and responsible disclosure standards.
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