Governments Are Paying $250,000 for an iOS Jailbreak

The Grugg, a Bangkok-based security researcher who brokers exploit sales to governments, reveals that iOS jailbreak exploits can sell for $250,000 or more, reports Forbes.

Grugg takes a 15% commission on sales of these 'zero-day' exploits and recently arranged a large iOS deal which could have been worth even more.


He arranged the iOS deal last month, for instance, between a developer and a U.S. government contractor. In that case, as with all of his exploit sales, he won't offer any other details about the buyer or the seller. Even with the $250,000 payout he elicited for that deal, he wonders if he could have gotten more. "I think I lowballed it," he wrote to me at one point in the dealmaking process. "The client was too happy."

The price assumes exclusive sale of the exploit and notably iOS exploits bring in the most money. Second highest is a Chrome exploit or Internet Explorer exploit. Check out the chart below for a breakdown.

For the Jailbreakme 3 iOS exploit created by the hacker Comex last year, the Grugq says he heard agencies would have been eager to pay $250,000 for exclusive use of the attack.

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