Apple sues virtualization company Corellium for copying iOS

Apple has sued the American company Corellium for allegedly copying iOS. The company offers virtualization software so that security experts can research the mobile operating system.

Corellium is a Florida company that offers customers a virtualized iOS environment. This allows them to use the software of the iPhone and iPad via a browser. Many security researchers use the software to search for vulnerabilities in iOS, or, for example, to see which versions a particular vulnerability is in. Not much is known about Corellium, but profiles show that it had many well-known hackers and researchers as clients. The company was also founded by well-known jailbreakers.

Apple is now suing the company for copyright infringement. “Corellium offers a near-perfect digital copy of a key component of Apple’s devices, recreating not only the appearance of the operating system and apps, but also the underlying operation of them, without any license or permission from us,” it writes. Apple in the lawsuit. The company also fears that Corellium customers will use the software to detect leaks and then sell them on to companies or governments. That often saves a lot of money.

Earlier this week, Apple announced that the company is increasing the maximum rewards for bug bounties. In addition, the company is also expanding its responsible disclosure policy so that all security researchers can use it. This may be the reason for the charges against Corellium. Apple says it “supports well-intentioned security research” when done by “legitimate” researchers. “While Corellium presents itself as a security research tool, its real purpose is to profit from infringing our brand,” Apple writes.