Apple rewards $2 million to the person who 'destroys' the iPhone

Apple increases rewards for those who bypass iPhone security systems. Photo: Bloomberg .

Apple has just raised the maximum reward in its bug bounty program to $2 million , double the previous figure. This move shows that the company is trying to attract more cybersecurity experts to detect serious vulnerabilities on iPhones early.

According to the announcement on October 10, the $2 million reward is awarded to those who find a vulnerability that can “reproduce sophisticated spyware-like attack capabilities.” Apple said this is the highest reward currently available in the technology industry’s bug bounty program. In some special cases, the reward can increase to a maximum of $5 million if the exploit is accompanied by the ability to bypass Lockdown Mode.

Apple has also increased the value of other categories. A firewall bypass bug is now valued at $100,000 , while a vulnerability that can access iCloud without authorization is worth $1 million . The scope of the program has also been expanded to include WebKit and wireless connectivity vulnerabilities.

Over the past five years, Apple has paid out more than $35 million to more than 800 security researchers through the program. The company says it is improving its reward process to ensure researchers receive rewards more quickly. One of the notable updates is Target Flags, a new mechanism that helps experts objectively prove their exploits.

The iPhone maker only started its bug bounty program in 2020, much later than Google or Microsoft. Before that, the relationship between Apple and the security community was not very smooth, with many experts complaining about sending bug reports to Apple without receiving a response.

The increase in the reward is a step forward in efforts to strengthen the security of iPhones, devices that are frequently targeted by sophisticated spyware groups. For years, Apple has been patching vulnerabilities exploited by NSO Group to install Pegasus software, which allows users to monitor their messages, emails, and photos without them interacting with the device.

In addition to the bug bounty program, Apple has also beefed up its on-device security. The newly launched iPhone 17 series features Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE), a memory protection system that the company describes as “the biggest upgrade in iOS history.”

MIE prevents malicious code by only allowing trusted code to run in protected memory, limiting the risk of exploiting memory vulnerabilities, a common method used by spyware.

Source: https://znews.vn/apple-thuong-2-trieu-usd-cho-nguoi-pha-iphone-post1592774.html