to security researchers
According to sources from Forbes, Apple is going to give security researchers special variants of its iPhones, similar to what the internal security team receives, but with fewer accesses. Apple would also set up a bug bounty program for macOS.

The devices would be given to the hackers who participate in Apple’s existing reward program for reporting bugs in iOS. That program is only accessible by invitation. There are no plans to distribute the custom iPhones in other ways.

On the devices, researchers get more access to the operating system, and they can stop the processor and inspect the memory, Forbes writes . That is more access than is possible with an iPhone from the store, but not as much as Apple itself has. The firmware, for example, remains encrypted. The site also notes that the move may be a response to the leakage of prototypes from iPhones.

Apple has had a bug bounty program for iOS since 2016, but not yet for macOS. According to Forbes sources, this is changing. Apple would make the announcements later this week at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, according to sources from the site. Apple itself did not respond to requests for comments from Forbes.