Apple offers a million dollars to scientists to detect iPhone security flaws

Apple Inc offers cyber security researchers up to $ 1 million to detect bugs in iPhones, the biggest reward a company offers to defend against hackers, in a time of growing concern for governments breaking into mobile entities from dissidents, journalists and human rights defenders.

Unlike other technology providers, Apple offered previous rewards only to invited researchers who tried to find errors in the phones and backups of the cloud.

At the annual Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas on Thursday, the company said it would open the process for all researchers, add Mac software and other goals, and offer a variety of rewards, called "bounties," for the key findings.

The $ 1[ads1] million price would only apply to remote access to the iPhone core without the action of the phone user. Apple's previous highest prize was $ 200,000 for friendly reports of bugs that can then be fixed with software updates and not leave them exposed to criminals or spies.

Government contractors and brokers have paid as much as $ 2 million for the most effective hacking techniques for gathering information from devices. However, Apple's new remuneration is to the same extent as some published prices from contractors.

Apple is taking other steps to make research easier, including offering a modified phone that has some security measures disabled. A major component of breaches are applications that take advantage of otherwise unknown errors in the phones, software or installed applications.

A number of private companies, such as Israel's NSO Group, sell hacking functions to government agencies.

"The NSO Group develops technology licensed to intelligence and law enforcement agencies for the sole purpose of preventing and investigating terror and crime," NSO said in a statement. "It's not a tool for targeting journalists to do their job or to silence critics."

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