Zerodium, an exploit acquisition platform, has just increased the bounty for those who can successfully jailbreak the new iOS 10. Successful jailbreaks will be awarded $1.5 million. So far, the reward is the highest payout offered by tech companies to ensure the safety and security of its software.
A higher bug bounty
Chaouki Bekrar, Zerodium founder, said in a statement that the $1.5 million reward does not have any timeframe. It is on a permanent offer to compensate the hardened security regime that Apple has recently taken. Bekrar also aims to attract more researchers to participate in the jailbreak so they increased the bounty price. However, the added security that comes with the iOS 10 might not be that easy to jailbreak anytime soon.
This is not the first time that Apple offered payouts for vulnerabilities found in its firmware. Just last month, in August during the Black Hat conference held annually, Apple announced their own Security Bounty Program that is only available by invite. Maximum rewards are capped at $200,000 depending on the discovered software vulnerability and only a few dozen researchers will be given an invite.
Multiple pay outs
Another notable thing with Zerodium's bug bounty is that they are prepared to pay out several researchers who can perform successful jailbreaks. This could be very lucrative for those who have the skills to find the iPhone bugs. But this also means that Apple and Zerodium are confident enough that the security that comes with the iOS 10 and Android Nougat is at its best.
Late last year, one hacking team got a successful jailbreak with the iOS 9.1 and 9.2. Zerodium offered to pay out $1 million but dropped the rate to just $500,000 for an exploit.
Meanwhile, an iOS 10 jailbreak is said to be in the works.
