Apple offers $1MILLION ‘bug bounty’ to anyone who can hack an iPhone

APPLE is offering $1million (£830,000) to anyone who is able to hack an iPhone in a bold test of their security systems.

Apple's head of security Ivan Krstić said hackers will have a chance at winning the huge payout this autumn- a sum that is by far the highest bug bounty on offer from any major tech company.

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Krstić announced the news at the Black Hat technology security conference in Las Vegas on Thursday, reported .

Apple is also launching a Mac bug bounty and is extending it to watchOS and its Apple TV operating system.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has called privacy a "human right," amid growing security concerns in the world.

REWARDS TO HACKERS

Cook said Apple is serious about not collecting personal information and keeping its 2billion global customers safe from hackers.

He told : "This is not something that we just started last week, when we saw something happening. We've been doing this for years."

However Apple isn't the only company offering rewards to hackers for similar deeds.

Rival Google announced in July it was offering $30,000 (£24,000) to people who could find flaws in its Chrome browser, reported CNET.

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Krstić added that a limited number of easy-to-hack iPhones will be distributed next year to anyone who can discover bugs in the devices.

He said: "We want to attract exceptional researchers who have been focused on other platforms."

The tech giant said the limited number of iPhones which are going to be distributed will help to prevent hackers from selling their discoveries to others offering a higher price than Apple.

However that's not all - Another $500,000 (£415,500) will be given to those who can find a “network attack requiring no user interaction.”

And a 50 per cent bonus will be up for grabs for hackers who can find weaknesses in software before it's released.

TECH BUGS PREVIOUSLY FOUND

Last month, six iPhone security flaws were found by Google researchers – and Apple still hasn't fixed one of them.

The holes in Apple's iOS software allow a hacker to take control of your phone by simply sending you a bugged message.

The find flies in the face of recent suggestions by Apple that it's the company to turn to if you care about privacy and security.

Research was carried out by a team at Project Zero, Google's security research group that tracks down so-called "zero day" vulnerabilities.

These bugs are named as such because whoever's in charge of the software has "zero days" to find a solution.

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They're a valuable tool for hackers and are constantly being hoarded by cyber criminals and intelligence agencies, while others attempt to find and fix them.

Of the six flaws found by the team, Apple has now patched five. To protect yourself, simply update to the latest version of iOS.

Four of the six – including the one not yet patched by Apple – allow a hacker to break into your phone by sending you an iMessage filled with malicious code.

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