Are you considering a career change? Prices for zero-day hacking tools continue to rise. In a new price list published this week and discovered by TechCrunch, startup Crowdfense said it would pay between $5 million and $7 million for a zero-day iPhone hack.
How much do iPhone exploits cost?
As TechCrunch explained, these exploits are called “zero days”; because they “rely on unpatched vulnerabilities in the software, unknown to the creators of that software.”
Companies like Crowdfense and One of its competitors, Zerodium, claims to have acquired these zero days for the purpose of reselling them to other organizations, usually government agencies or government contractors, who claim they need hacking tools to track or spy on criminals.
According to the new price list, Crowdfense said it will pay between $5 million and $7 million for a zero-day iPhone and up to $5 million for a zero-day Android.
- Zero-day Google Chrome. : up to $3 million.
- Safari Zero Day: up to $3.5 million.
- iMessage Zero Day: $3 million to $5 million.
- WhatsApp Zero Day: $3 million to $5 million
These numbers are up from the last Crowdfense prices published in 2019. In that report, the company was offering $3 million for Android and zero-day iPhones. TechCrunch explains that this is a byproduct of companies like Apple and Google improving platform security and patching vulnerabilities faster.
Crowdfense payouts are now the “highest publicly known prices.” #8221; outside of Russia, TechCrunch reports:
Crowdfense currently offers the highest publicly known prices to date outside of Russia, where a company called Operation Zero announced last year that he was willing to pay up to $20 million for tools to hack iPhones and Android devices. However, prices in Russia may be inflated due to the war in Ukraine and subsequent sanctions, which may discourage or prevent people from doing business with a Russian company.
Apple offers its own Apple Security Research Program Bounty, through which security researchers can earn a maximum of $2 million.
Full report on TechCrunch offers an interesting look at the broader world of bounty programs and payouts for zero-day exploits.
Full report on TechCrunch offers an interesting look at the broader world of bounty programs and zero-day exploit payouts.
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