Apple Sends Jailbroken iPhones To Security Researchers

The silicon giant, Apple announced back in 2019, that it would start shipping out some security researchers a “special” version of the iPhone designed to find vulnerabilities. In 2020, Apple started shipping jailbroken iPhones designed with some security features disabled, making it easier for researchers to track bugs in iOS. In a significant development, Apple is again shipping jailbroken iPhones to its security researchers with a bunch of stickers to bug bounty hunters.

Photos of Apple’s Official Jailbroken iPhones Surfaced Online

A security researcher at Apple, Gergely Kalman posted a photo of a “Security Research Device,” or SRD, a jailbroken iPhone 14 Pro sent to him by Apple, on X (formerly known as Twitter). Let’s have a look:

Kalman runs a cybersecurity firm based in Spain. He said in the replies that he was “a bit shocked” at some of the jailbroken features. The point worth mentioning is that the company itself pre-jailbreaks the devices, allowing third-party researchers to search for vulnerabilities without worrying about being locked out. He stated:

“What this essentially means is that the researchers can run arbitrary code, as an arbitrary user with arbitrary entitlements, giving them almost complete control over the device,”

Reports claim that jailbreaks usually don’t exist for the latest version of iOS. However, they usually compromise one or more crucial systems if they do. That’s why having a jailbroken iPhone, and an SRD as a security researcher is incredibly useful. The researchers report new vulnerabilities to Apple and those addressed by the iOS developers. These Researchers finding new vulnerabilities are given financial rewards by the company. According to Kalman, his jailbroken iPhone looks identical to the normal variants. It is expected to work perfectly like a regular iPhone 14 Pro. However, Apple has explicitly forbidden to use it for obvious reasons.

Sources claim that Apple started offering “bug bounties” in 2020. Since then, researchers have been provided SRDs for 12-month periods, though access to the devices themselves is tightly controlled. Apple lists the bounties on the security website. The company gives a $5,000 reward to researchers who manage to access an app by bypassing the lock screen without technical effort. However, researchers who find a new vulnerability allowing them to bypass the iOS Lockdown Mode may be eligible for a payout worth up to $2 million.

Apple never favors its customers to jailbreak its devices. According to the silicon giant, unauthorized modifications to iOS can result in multiple performance issues, including crashes, freezes, and shortened battery life.