Apple's security engineering boss Ivan Krstić told Black Hat attendees that Cupertino is expanding its bug-bounty program in various ways.
And the maximum payout for an exploit chain that can achieve a total and automatic iPhone takeover – no user interaction required, kernel-level, and persistent, and requiring just a victim's cellphone number – will be upped to $1m from $200,000.
Developer-mode iPhones that grant access to the firmware and operating system, to make finding low-level holes easier, will be given to selected infosec gurus to probe.
Check Point continues beef with WhatsApp
Around this time last year, Check Point revealed it was possible to slyly manipulate messages in private and group WhatsApp conversations.
At the time, the chat app's maker Facebook didn't think it was too big a deal, and it still doesn't: according to Check Point's reps at Black Hat this Thursday, the weaknesses remain largely unfixed.