Apple will provide security researchers with hacked iPhones to enhance the iOS security architecture

A report released a few months ago revealed a thriving black market for iPhone developers, which could be used to search for undiscovered iOS vulnerabilities. While each security vulnerability costs thousands of dollars, the investment can be worth it for hackers seeking to sell the vulnerabilities found in the iPhone to the highest bidder.

Apple is rushing to fix new security vulnerabilities, but the company wants to speed up the process even further. To do this, Apple will provide security researchers with iPhones similar to those sold on the black market. These jailbreak-based devices are supposed to allow developers to more easily detect vulnerabilities in iOS and report them to Apple before hackers can abuse them.

Only trusted hackers in the Apple Bounty program will be eligible for these jailbreak compatible devices. This means that Apple will be able to control who can access these devices and avoid black market leaks. According to Forbes, it would appear that these devices will have the same power as the Apple devices themselves, but will be lightweight models without access to the encrypted basic operating system of the iPhone.

It is unclear exactly what iPhone model provided by Apple to these trusted researchers. In addition, Apple wants to open another reward program for MacOS, which will also provide financial incentives to researchers who discover security vulnerabilities on Mac computers. It is unclear when this reward program will be announced. Apple could reveal more details later in the day when Apple's head of security and engineering, Mr. Ivan Krstić, interviews Behind The Scenes on iOS & Mac Security.