ByDavey Winder,
Senior Contributor.
Hacking is not a crime; criminal hacking is. If you want to stay on the right side of the law and get very rich without becoming a cybercriminal, you need to pay attention. Hot on the heels of a $1 million reward offered for hacking WhatsApp, and assorted folk earning more than that amount for exploits, including zero-days that hacked the Samsung Galaxy S25, during the Pwn2Own event in Ireland, comes some exciting news for iPhone owners. Apple has announced what it claims is an unprecedented $5 million reward for anyone who can hack the latest iPhones. Here’s what you need to know to get your hands on the cash.
Bug bounty programs, vulnerability-hunting rewards, security exploit payments; call them what you will, but making money by hacking into hardware and software with the vendor’s blessing has been gaining popularity in recent years. Google paid hackers $12 million in 2024 alone, across 10 years, Microsoft has coughed up $60 million, and now Apple has announced what it calls an unprecedented iPhone security bounty: If you think you have what it takes to bypass the latest iPhone lockdown mode protections to install spyware, it will pay you a whopping $5 million.
