Every time Apple releases a new version of its mobile operating system, the race is on among hackers to jailbreak it, and it’s no different with iOS 9. The company just pushed out the latest edition of iOS last week, and it seems that, at the time of this writing anyway, no iOS 9 jailbreak is available yet. There is a semi-jailbreak for iOS 9 available though.
iOS 9 harder to jailbreak?
So is this version more difficult to jailbreak? It seems possible, as hackers had iOS 8.4 jailbroken almost instantly. It took Apple only a couple of weeks to patch that jailbreak, however, so perhaps the company is getting better at plugging holes that could be exploited by jailbreakers before they have a chance to do so.
Zerodium, which describes itself as an “exploit acquisition platform,” is so anxious to locate an iOS 9 jailbreak that it is offering $1 million to three jailbreak researchers who can give it exploits for the newest version of Apple’s mobile operating system.
iOS 9 is Apple’s securest OS yet
Zerodium CEO Chaouki Bekrar told Forbes that they’re looking for demonstrations on a remote, fully untethered jailbreak for iOS 9 that actually works and will continue working even after the device is rebooted. He also said the reason they’re paying $1 million for iOS 9 jailbreaks because of how high quality the security of the newest version of iOS is, calling it “the most secure mobile OS as of today.”
The firm said in order for a researcher to win the prize, the jailbreak must work on the iPhone 6 or the iPhone 6S. They published the full list of rules on their website. In order to jailbreak iOS 9, hackers will have to get in through the Safari or Chrome web browsers or through a text message. Both of these techniques are difficult even for experienced hackers and jailbreak developers. Zerodium is offering the reward until 6 p.m. Eastern on Oct. 31.
It should be noted that there have been rumors that an iOS 9 jailbreak is available, but when this article was written, one hadn’t been released yet.
Zerodium compensates hackers well
Bekrar reportedly told Forbes that they pay between $100,000 and $150,000 per week to cyber-researchers who reported exploits, vulnerabilities and zero-days. The company has not publicly disclosed its bounty payments though, mostly because its business model only allows the disclosure of vulnerabilities to paying customers.
