There's a digital arms race going on, and you may get caught in the middle of a dangerous battle. On one side, you have Apple creating what's arguably the most secure operating system today, its new iOS 9.
On the other side are hackers, like those at a company called Zerodium, who to want to profit by selling security holes they find in iOS 9. Of course, that company, and its sister company Vupen, have a legitimate side.
They find exploits in operating systems, and then sell those exploits to governments, who can prevent attacks by spying on terrorists, for example. They could also make a profit by selling exploits to companies like Apple, so they can create security patches.
However, some of these companies sell to the highest bidder, even if those are nefarious companies who want to steal competitors' secrets, or governments who want to spy on, and blackmail their own citizens. The ACLU has described some of these hackers as selling "bullets for cyberwar." (We recently told you another shady hacking outfit, The Hacking Team.)
The good news is that Apple's iPhones and other devices using iOS 9 are very secure. Even when there are rare problems with its security, like the recent intrusion of malware-infect apps in the App Store, Apple typically fixes the problem quickly.
Which is why no-good hackers will pay huge sums of money to break in. Case in point, Zerodium says it will pay hackers $1 million for each zero-day exploit they find in iOS 9.
Zerodium will then sell those exploits to government agencies, perhaps including its past customers like NATO countries, but perhaps also to less reputable regimes. It also has corporate customers it sells to.
If that $1 million is any indication of how secure Apple's operating systems are, consider this. Just three years ago, hackers were paying $250,000 for iPhone exploits, and just $60,000 for Android.
Keep reading Happening Now to find out if hackers are successful in finding zero-day exploits in Apple's iOS 9. Of course, we hope they don't. But the $1 million that Zerodium is dangling in front of hackers may be far too tempting for them not to find one.
