The Tech Giant “Apple” is ready to pay you $1M if you can successfully hack an IPhone or any IOS device, this is the highest bounty offer from any tech company, increasing by 800% from the $200,000 it offered back in 2016.
The company announced that it will pay out $1 million to security researchers who can carry out what is known as a zero-click full chain kernel execution attack with persistence. That means anyone who can get to the core of Apple’s iOS operating system and gain control of an iPhone in a way that wouldn’t require any user interaction would be eligible for the payout, as Forbes and TechCrunch reported.
The $1M offer is a huge difference from the $200,000 maximum it paid out to researchers when the program launched two years ago. It’s also the biggest bug-bounty reward offered by a major technology company, according to Forbes. Those who can spot a vulnerability in a beta version of Apple’s software be it for IOS, Mac, Apple TV softwares, before it launches can also receive a 50% bonus ie $500000
Apple made this announcement during the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas alongside other critical updates. In addition to the new $1 million reward, Apple added that the program is now open to other Apple Products and platforms such as macOS, tvOS, and watchOS, the software that powers its Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch products, In addition Apple also announced that the program is now opened to any researcher that would like participate against the invite-only requirement it ran on before.
The expansion of Apple’s bug-bounty programs comes as data breaches seems to be on the high in most tech and financial industries.
Security analysts has of recent reported several loopholes and vulnerabilities in Apple’s products. In June, the researcher Patrick Wardle spotted a loophole that would make it possible for hackers to bypass security prompts in Apples macOS software, as reported by Wired
