Corellium Launching New Initiative to Hold Apple Accountable Over CSAM Detection Security and Privacy Claims

Security research firm Corellium this week announced it is launching a new initiative that will "support independent public research into the security and privacy of mobile applications," and one of the initiative's first projects will be Apple's recently announced CSAM detection plans.

appleprivacyad
Since its announcement earlier this month, Apple's plan to scan iPhone users' photo libraries for CSAM or child sexual abuse material has received considerable backlash and criticism. The majority of concerns revolve around how the technology used to detect CSAM could be used to scan for other types of photos in a user's library, possibly at the request of an oppressive government.

Apple will check for CSAM photos on a user's photo library by comparing the hashes of a user's pictures to a database of known CSAM images. The company has firmly pushed back against the idea that it will allow governments to add or remove images to that database, refuting the possibility that embodiments other than CSAM may get flagged if found in a user's iCloud Photo Library.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said that the on-device nature of Apple's CSAM detection method, compared to others such as Google who complete the process in the cloud, allows security researchers to validate the company's claim that the database of CSAM images is not wrongly altered.

Security researchers are constantly able to introspect what's happening in Apple's software, so if any changes were made that were to expand the scope of this in some way—in a way that we had committed to not doing—there's verifiability, they can spot that that's happening.

Corellium's new initiative, called the "Corellium Open Security Initiative," aims to put Federighi's claim to the test. As part of the initiative, Corellium will award security researchers a $5,000 grant and free access to the Corellium platform for an entire year to allow for research.

Corellium believes that this new initiative will allow security researchers, hobbyists, and others to validate Apple's claims over its CSAM detection method. The security research firm, which just recently settled its long-lasting dispute with Apple, says it applauds Apple's "commitment to holding itself accountable by third-party researchers."

We hope that other mobile software vendors will follow Apple's example in promoting independent verification of security and privacy claims. To encourage this important research, for this initial pilot of our Security Initiative, we will be accepting proposals for research projects designed to validate any security and privacy claims for any mobile software vendor, whether in the operating system or third-party applications.

Security researchers and others interested in being part of the initiative have until October 15, 2021, to apply. More details can be found on Corellium's website.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
apple tv 4k new orange

Next Apple TV Expected to Launch This Year With These New Features

Monday September 22, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
The next Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Likely Features N1 Chip With Wi-Fi 7 Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the next Apple TV would be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, which is...
Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

iOS 26.1 Adds New Apple Intelligence Languages and Expands AirPods Live Translation

Monday September 22, 2025 11:15 am PDT by
With iOS 26.1, Apple Intelligence is gaining support for additional languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. Apple announced plans to expand the languages that can be used with Apple Intelligence last year, and now the added language support is here. Apple Intelligence is now available in the following...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
iPhone 17 Pro USB C Port

iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C Charging Speeds Tested With Apple Chargers

Monday September 22, 2025 7:29 am PDT by
The website ChargerLAB has tested the iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C charging speeds with a variety of Apple's chargers, from 18W to 140W. The device reached a peak charging speed of around 36W with the following Apple chargers:40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max 61W USB-C Power Adapter 67W USB-C Power Adapter 70W USB-C Power Adapter 96W USB-C Power Adapter 140W USB-C Power AdapterFor...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds First Betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1

Monday September 22, 2025 10:05 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with the first betas of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The new betas are the first updates to the iOS, iPadOS, macOS 26, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS releases that came out last week. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going...

Top Rated Comments

adib Avatar
54 months ago
For the first few months of iOS 15, I'm confident that the database just contains CSAM image fingerprints. However as time passes (and as Corellium's interest wanes), other authorities will push their agenda and force Apple's compliance to include "extra hashes" that are not part of CSAM....
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
femike Avatar
54 months ago
Sadly as expected, users will just roll over and accept it no matter what Apple is found doing. The Public have short memories. This does not make it any less wrong. It is still an appalling decision which should be rescinded.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brucewayne Avatar
54 months ago
The reason why Apple has been able to stave off warrant requests in the past is by claiming 'they don't have the key'

The current administration (as well as governments around the world) have been pushing for the ability to access your messages. CSAM gives Apple a chance to 'create' their own backdoor under noble pretenses (who is going to argue against stopping child abuse?) and creating an opening for the governments to eventually exploit. It won't matter what Corellium finds now.

And when it happens, Tim Cook will get up on stage and in his soothing southern drawl claim to be the good guy as they had the best of intentions. They won't even lose any customers over because most people are oblivious to privacy (Amazon has sold 100 million Alexa powered products), and the people that do care will have nowhere to go after the precedent is set and Google / Amazon / Microsoft have joined in.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Substance90 Avatar
54 months ago
The fact that the analysis is done on device is even worse. That means that your privacy is invaded even with all network connection turned off.

EDIT: Let me elaborate for the down voters - if the photos are scanned only if uploaded to some cloud, you don't even have to cut your network connection. You just keep your photos on your device and you're safe. If the scanning is done on device that means that your privacy is not guaranteed no matter if you keep your photos offline or if you even cut your network connection.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brucewayne Avatar
54 months ago

So you don't think the below applies in this case?

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/slippery-slope

I guess we'll have to wait and see and hopefully Apple will be open with that they add to that hash list. If it can also be monitored by external initiatives such as Corellium I think that's good.
I think we have 20 years of increasing government intrusion to conclude that if A happens Z won't be far behind.

Liberty once lost is lost forever.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bobcomer Avatar
54 months ago

Likely 18 U.S. Code § 2258 ('https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2258') - Failure to report child abuse and related laws:
* 18 U.S. Code § 2258A ('https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2258A') - Reporting requirements of providers
* 18 U.S. Code § 2258B ('https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2258B') - Limited liability for providers or domain name registrars
* 18 U.S. Code § 2258C ('https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2258C')
* 18 U.S. Code § 2258D ('https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2258D') - Limited liability for NCMEC
* 18 U.S. Code § 2258E ('https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2258E') - Definitions
None of those require on device scanning.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)