How hacking into WhatsApp, iMessage can make you a millionaire

Exploiting secure and sensitive platforms such as iMessage or WhatsApp is not easy. And if you do so, you could get yourself into trouble. But what is we say that hacking into someone’s WhatsApp or iMessage data could make you a millionaire?

Yes, there are companies out there who are ready to shell out a huge sum of money if you are able to exploit such sensitive platforms. While this may be a completely ethical run, law agencies are in need of methods that can help then either spy on certain accounts or crack into a case. Criminals and terrorists make use of such messaging platforms for their illegal activities, and cracking into them is what the government and law agencies are continuously in need of.

Zerodium, a startup firm, is known for buying and selling hacking tools and exploits to governments and law agencies around the world. Now, they have announced that they are looking for people who can send them hacks and exploits done remotely, and are ready to pay u to $1 million. This also includes remote iOS jailbreaks and Windows exploits, reported Motherboard.

“Messaging apps in general and WhatsApp in particular are sometimes the only communication channel used by targets and end-to-end encryption makes it difficult for our government customers to intercept such communications,” Zerodium’s founder Chaouki Bekrar told Motherboard in an online chat. “So having the ability to remotely compromise these apps directly without compromising the whole phone is much more strategic and effective.”

With highly sensitive information on smartphones today, and the amount that can be paid for cracking into them (in some cases, up to $2 million are spent), this only goes to say that smartphones today are getting more and more secure. It is increasingly getting harder to crack into iOS and Android systems today.