Image: apple
Matthew Humphries
for
PCMag
2020-12-23 20:31:11 UTC
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Back in July, Apple introduced that it was making a special type of iPhone customers would not be capable of purchase. Instead, this hacker-friendly iDevice could be despatched solely to safety researchers. This week, that new iPhone began transport.
As you’d count on, the iPhones customers obtain embody a locked-down model of iOS in order to make it very tough for malicious software program and hackers to take management of your system. However, safety researchers should work with the identical model, making it that rather more tough to investigate and uncover safety holes within the cellular OS. Apple realized this and determined to supply a hacker-friendly iPhone to the analysis neighborhood.
As MacRumors reports, Apple despatched out notifications this week to the primary batch of researchers chosen to obtain the particular iPhone. Apparently they’re within the mail and may arrive shortly, which means some researchers could find yourself with an sudden Christmas current to open on Friday.
The hacker-friendly iPhones are on loan from Apple for a interval of 12 months, however the timeframe might be prolonged if Apple sees match. In return for making these units out there, Apple expects all found vulnerabilities to be reported promptly. Researchers are incentivized to do this anyway as a result of Apple runs a bug bounty program with payouts awarded to whoever discovers a safety flaw first. The quantity paid will depend on how severe of a vulnerability it’s, with the highest payout being $1.5 million presently.
Don’t count on to see these particular iPhones out within the wild.
