Apple Security Bounty program, which commenced in 2020, has already disseminated a whopping $35 million to over 800 security researchers, averaging $43,750 per researcher. Even so, the Cupertino giant is now all set to make its bounty rewards a lot more lucrative.
Apple has now published a blog post, detailing a major evolution of its bounty program:
- Apple has doubled its top award to $2 million, payable for finding "exploit chains that can achieve similar goals as sophisticated mercenary spyware attacks."
- The program's bonus awards for finding Lockdown Mode bypasses and other vulnerabilities in the beta software can take the maximum payout tally to a whopping $5 million.
- Apple is also now offering $100,000 for locating a complete Gatekeeper bypass, which allows a malicious piece of code to run on the macOS without triggering the security checks inherent in Apple's Gatekeeper feature.
- The program is offering $1 million for finding "broad unauthorized iCloud access."
- The Apple Security Bounty program is now expanding to encompass "one-click WebKit sandbox escapes," which entail an award of up to $300,000.
- Finally, Apple is awarding $1 million for finding "wireless proximity exploits over any radio."
Over the years, the bounty program has helped Apple substantially improve its security profile, which now includes:
- A dedicated Lockdown Mode - attack vectors are minimized by blocking attachments, link previews, web-based restrictions, among other steps.
- An upgraded security architecture of the Safari browser.
- Memory Integrity Enforcement - a security feature in chips such as the A19 which protects against memory corruption vulnerabilities.
Of course, Apple takes pains to note that, as a result of these measures, the only system-level iOS attacks now originate from extremely sophisticated mercenary spyware that cost millions of dollars to develop, and remain limited to a "a very small number of targeted individuals."
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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