By Julie Clover
Private Cloud Compute is a cloud-based intelligence system designed by Apple to process private AI data, and it is what Apple uses to keep Apple Intelligence queries secure when they need to be processed in the cloud.
Apple has promised to allow security and privacy researchers to review the end-to-end security and privacy promises Apple has made for Private Cloud Compute, and today Apple made its Private Cloud Compute Virtual Research Environment (VRE) and other materials publicly available to all security researchers.
Apple has a Private Cloud Compute (PCC) Security Guide that details all the components of PCC and how they work to ensure privacy for processing AI data in the cloud. Apple has released the source code for some of the PCC components that help implement its security and privacy requirements, allowing you to dive deeper into PCC.
The Virtual Research Environment is a set of tools that allows researchers to perform their own PCC security analysis using a Mac. The VRE can be used to inspect PCC software releases, check transparency log consistency, load a release in a virtualized environment, and modify and debug PCC software for deeper investigation. The VRE can be accessed in macOS 18.1 Developer Preview and can be used with a Mac that has Apple-designed silicon and unified memory of 16GB or more.
Along with these tools, Apple is expanding its Apple Security Bounty program to include rewards for vulnerabilities that demonstrate a violation of Private Cloud Compute’s core privacy and security guarantees. Security researchers who discover a vulnerability can earn up to $1 million.
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