Roger Fingas
Apple is hiring Frederic Jacobs — a developer responsible for the secure chat app Signal — to work on the CoreOS security team this summer, a report noted on Friday.
Jacobs announced his new job in a Twitter post, later spotted by TechCrunch. Beyond the security focus, Jacobs hasn't elaborated on what he might be doing, which is common for high-profile recruitments at Apple.
He is however a specialist in cryptography, and Signal's main feature is end-to-end encryption, in theory making it impenetrable to outside parties like hackers and governments.
Apple is reportedly working to negate the kind of passcode workaround the FBI is requesting in the case of an iPhone 5c owned by dead San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. The company is also allegedly planning to offer more secure iCloud accounts, such that even Apple wouldn't be able to examine the contents of a backup.
Those efforts could require someone like Jacobs. He may have come to the company's attention because Signal is the favorite messaging app of Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who exposed the organization's mass surveillance programs in 2013. Snowden is currently in exile in Russia, and could face extradition and imprisonment if caught by U.S. (or U.S.-friendly) agents.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Stephen Silver
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19 Comments
This sounds like a great hire for Apple. Now cue the one post idiots who are comparing Apple to terrorists.
This is NOT a political statement declaring any party affiliation but had our military been allowed to address the ISIS threat when they sill were the "JV team" they could have squashed this from the start limiting the recruiting process that then followed. After all showing terrorists blowed to bits isn't the best way to attract people to a failed cause: " Come join us and everyone will see parts of your brave body spread across the desert!" Sign me up!!
And by the way... Where's Hollywood in all this FBI crap? You remember the stars who were Sooooooooooo upset their nude photos were pulled from their iPhones and iCloud accounts? Why are THEY on the sidelines? They do realize if the FBI wins their crap will be over the Internet big time right?
hey Jennifer I'm talking to you! Your voice and they rest of your friends would go a long way in helping apple keep your crap secure. Get involved
Remember it was revealed back in 2001 that the FBI didn't even use computers that everything was hand written for security. It came up during a congress review that they weren't even allowed to gather info using Facebook or MySpace ? One of the congressman made the comment "My 6 year old grandson can look it up but you can't??" Remember how shocked we all were to find this out? So somehow they went from no computer -> to trust us with THEE most damaging software code in history - all in just 15 years?? Apple has been doing this for 30+ years but the FBI is suddenly a computer/mobile specialist? They're the ones who told the idiot ar SBC that changing the Apple ID and password was a good way to retrieve info from the phone? Imagine the studio decisions they could make with govtOS?The only device allowed in the pentagon is the iPhone. So where does that leave our defense when they hack into there??