Apple Provides File 'Bounty' to Researchers Who Discover iPhone Safety Flaws | Voice of America

LAS VEGAS – Apple Inc. is providing cybersecurity researchers as much as $1 million to detect flaws in iPhones, the most important reward supplied by an organization to defend in opposition to hackers, at a time of rising concern about governments breaking into the cell gadgets of dissidents, journalists and human rights advocates. 

In contrast to different know-how suppliers, Apple beforehand supplied rewards solely to invited researchers who tried to search out flaws in its telephones and cloud backups. 

On the annual Black Hat safety convention in Las Vegas on Thursday, the corporate stated it could open the method to all researchers, add Mac software program and different targets, and supply a vary of rewards, referred to as “bounties,” for essentially the most vital findings. 

The $1 million prize would apply solely to distant entry to the iPhone kernel, with none motion from the telephone’s person. 

Apple’s earlier highest bounty was $200,000 for pleasant experiences of bugs that may then be fastened with software program updates, retaining them from being uncovered to criminals or spies. 

Authorities contractors and brokers have paid as a lot as $2 million for the best hacking strategies to acquire data from gadgets. Apple’s new bounties, nonetheless, are in the identical vary as some printed costs from contractors. 

Apple is taking different steps to make analysis simpler, together with providing a modified telephone that has some safety measures disabled. 

A lot of personal firms, reminiscent of Israel’s NSO Group, promote hacking capabilities to governments to focus on their critics. One such assault was made in opposition to a pal of Washington Put up columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi Arabian authorities, who was killed contained in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. 

A principal part of such breaches is applications that reap the benefits of in any other case unknown flaws within the telephones, their software program or put in purposes.