No software is perfect, no matter how intelligent and meticulous the people that put it together are. There will almost always be a few kinks to work out and some wrinkles to iron down. And even with the amount of money that companies like Apple invest in these software, they are willing to pay even more for those that can point out their product's weak spots.
According to CNet, Apple is willing to pay as much as $200,000 to researchers who are able to find and report software vulnerabilities. This number was announced by Apple's head of security, Ivan Krstic, just last week.
"We are pleased to announce an Apple security bounty program," Krstic stated as Apple officially joined the likes of Microsoft and Google. Other companies have long used this practice to find and address kinks that were not evident to their in-house developers.
However, the publication goes on to share as well that kinks in Apple's armor are few and hard to come by. Because of this, and Apple's relatively low market share, hackers tend to leave the Cupertino-based company alone. With this new monetary incentive, partnered with the pride of having found an Apple glitch, more individuals are likely to get on board with the program.
However, Tech News World adds that Apple will only work with these people on a case-to-case basis. Nevertheless, Apple does have plans to expand the program in the future.
More, specifically, Apple will offer as much as $200,000 for vulnerabilities in boot firmware components, $100,000 for flaws that allow the extraction of confidential material, $50,000 for vulnerabilities that allow unauthorized access to iCloud account data and $25,000 for flaws that enable access from a sandboxed process to user data. Apple is also ready to provide monetary incentives to individuals who unearth critical vulnerabilities in its software outside of the listed limitations.
