Apple Gives 14 Billion Gifts to People Who Find iPhone Security Vulnerabilities
Apple this time seems to be more serious about improving security on its devices. This can be seen from several expansions of their bug bounty program to a number of operating systems from outside iOS.
The bounty program has been around since 2022, but only for iOS. Now Apple is starting to expand the program to macOS, tvOS, iPadOS, iCloud, and WatchOS.
But still the golden child in this program, iOS relies more on the iPhone. Because the reward given to the finder of the gap in the iPhone can reach USD 1 million or around Rp. 14.1 billion.
Keep in mind, the gaps that must be found are those that can be fatal to the iPhone. The loophole in question could allow hackers to have full access to an iPhone or iPad without having to connect to the device.
Even specifically for iOS, Apple will now also provide a special iPhone for certain research. The phone will be slightly exposed compared to the consumer version, but still more closed than the iPhone specifically for Apple employees.
The open intent here is where the iPhone can give the user permission to check from the OS and its components like memory for security vulnerabilities.
Nevertheless, this is a big achievement from Apple. The reason is, Apple had said that it would not give a penny to those who found loopholes in their operating system.
However, this time they instead opened the program to all operating systems on their devices such as iCloud, iOS, tvOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS.