Hackers capable of bypassing Apple device protections can start getting to work: the Cupertino company announced this during a presentation at BlackHat 2016 (the annual international conference on cybersecurity), offering a $200,000 reward for those who uncover Apple bugs. Microsoft, Google, and many other leading tech companies have already been offering a stable reward program for some time, compensating those who identify vulnerabilities in their application systems and provide appropriate private documentation.

The first phase of the initiative is scheduled for September and will be quite limited – both in terms of scope (by invitation only, aimed at a select group of researchers the company has previously worked with) and the number of systems covered (currently only iOS and iCloud). However, the monetary rewards on offer are far from negligible… and if the group tasked by the company were to expand access in the future, things could get very interesting!

What’s on the “price list”? Access by an app to any internal data on the device not intended for it will be rewarded with sums of up to $25,000; Apple bugs that allow access to information stored in iCloud accounts will increase the reward to $50,000; arbitrary code execution with kernel privileges remains at $50,000; extracting material protected by the Secure Enclave coprocessor will be worth up to $100,000; and the most sensitive vulnerabilities, those of the secure boot firmware, will be valued at up to $200,000.

Interested in the topic? Stay tuned – we’ll continue to monitor the situation for you… if the next round of selections is expanded, you’ll be the first to know!