Apple Starts Invite Only Bug-Bounty Program

Companies are looking at increasing their security, working on finding and dealing with problems as they occur. One way companies are looking at addressing these issues is through bug-bounty programs. Apple is looking at starting to their own while but with an invite-only twist.

Apple’s new scheme was announced at the Black Hat conference and will launch in September. In exchange for a little cash, the program will reward those who managed to find exploits or vulnerabilities in the latest version of iOS or even the latest generation of hardware.

The new scheme will run as an invite-only scheme to start with, with Apple asking people specifically to look around under the hood of their technologies. Apple has been clear that if people approach them with a ‘significant bug’ they will be invited to join the scheme.

While many large companies have introduced bounty programs, Apple is one of the last major companies to introduce such a scheme. The invite-only part is an interesting twist on a system used by hundreds of companies all over the world, with millions being paid out in rewards by companies such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft.

Split into five categories, with rewards of up to $200,000 given for anything that would compromise the secure boot firmware behind Apple’s systems. Only time will tell just how successful the new scheme will work and how long it will be before Apple open up their network to the public.