Apple pledges $1 million reward to anyone who can hack new iPhone

Apple has upped the stakes when it comes to the security of its devices. Photo / 123RF

Can you hack an iPhone?

That's the question Apple is asking after pledging to give away US$1 million ($1.54 million) to anyone who can break into an iPhone remotely.

It is a significant increase from the US$200,000 "bounty programme" ($309,000) reward Apple has run since 2016 to incentivise hackers to work with the company, rather than target it and it's users.

Hackers will have a chance to win the bigger payout from September, Ivan Krstić, Apple's head of security, announced at the Black Hat technology security conference in Las Vegas, CNET reported.

Apple is also launching a Mac "bug bounty" and is extending it to its watchOS and Apple TV operating system. A "bug bounty" offers compensation and rewards to users who point out performance issues with Apple devices.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has called privacy a "human right", amid growing security concerns in the world. He said Apple is serious about not collecting personal information and keeping its two billion customers safe from hackers.

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

Apple isn't alone on offering rewards to hackers, although other companies have offered far less. Rival Google in July announced it was offering US$30,000 ($46,000) to people who could find flaws in its Chrome browser, CNET reports.

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

Apple wants to go easy on their distribution, to help prevent hackers from turning around and selling any vulnerabilities to hackers offering a higher price than Apple.

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

Last month, six iPhone security flaws were found by Google researchers.

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

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.