DailyPost 2959
HACK LEGALLY FOR A FORTUNE!
Can we use the outstanding expertise of the hackers for the good of the IT industry, more so as we are getting into a totally new paradigm of the Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence age? Yes. we should. This would be the normal commonsensical approach of most of the people. But in actual practice the industry has kept itself aloof from the hackers and banked on their testing and cyber security safeguards. Most of the time, security has not been by design and default and hence we have been facing real cyber security for a long time and have not been able to do much.
There have been times when hackers out of unending energy and expertise have breached systems and communicated to the concerned enterprises but that has generally not been of any avail. Finally either they keep quiet or bring it to the public domain. Big bounty programs address this problem a miniscule level. Now Apple wants to transform it at scale and give hackers a fair chance to prove their expertise and help Apple secure its systems better. Undeniably, the hackers get attractive cash prizes. The news headline is as fascinating as the proposed activity. “Apple is challenging hackers to break into the company’s servers: If you are successful, you could earn up to $1 million.”
$1 million check in up for grabs as Apple is taking its server safety very seriously. It is a challenge by the $3.5 trillion dollar giant challenging the hackers to breach into the company’s tech. The challenge is known as the ‘security research challenge’ and is primarily meant for Apple’s rollout of its AI-powered Apple Intelligence offering, as a part of iOS 18.1. The server at the centre of this challenge is a Private Cloud Compute (PCC) server. The server runs most of the Intelligence commands. Why this challenge now, and what risk does Apple intend to ward off? Given the PCC server’s criticality, Apple is desperate to protect the server from any cyber attacks, hacks and security breaches.
This is a swift call both for the amateur hackers, security experts, security and privacy researchers. They can learn more about PCC and the company has asked them to make independent verification of its claims. Apple with this exercise has extended Apple Security Bounty to include PCC. The tech guide has also been provided with all the requisite tech details. “It even released the source code for some parts of PCC on GitHub. The parameters of the bug bounty have been defined and so are the cash prizes for $50,000 to $250,000 depending on the nature of breach detected. Apple says even if the security issue is not covered by Apple’s outline, the company promises to consider providing a bounty. Apple should be complimented for its extremely serious and transparent effort in the making of a cyber secure world.
HACKERS ARE AT THE CENTRE OF THE CYBER ECOSYSTEM, LEAVING THEM OUTSIDE CAN ONLY BE AT OUR PERIL.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.