Also, Apple has a PR problem and can't operate without secure systems. Article title notwithstanding, it is a pretty big deal that while an intelligence agency is coming at them hard they hired a developer, in a very public manner, that's application is used by the very person who made the evidence of surveillance known.

This could be a signal to the market that they not only passively oppose this, but they are actively locking down their systems and they won't cooperate. Seems like a very sharp developer and as a bonus he did secure system messaging so it is not idiotic.

edit: I ammended post to reflect that he is likely not working on iPhone directly.

Something very much outside what we know about the secure chat app.

We also know that iMessage has never been known to have any fundamental security flaws.

I tried to clarify above, and I'll do so here again. I don't think the hire was idiotic. I think TCs characterization of hiring a security messiah was idiotic.

That is not anywhere close to reality.

I don't know about his engineering abilities but the interview I read and some of the news articles presented him as quite a talented person. Signal, if it is as secure as the EFF audit suggests, would be one way to shore up older iPhones.

> I think TC's characterization of it was idiotic.

I mean, if we grade it on the TC scale it wasn't. It is hard to say it is unrelated. Their communication device is very publicly being regulated into compliance and they want to hire all the good people they can get. This is good on 3 levels, solid engineer, strong communication to market and that commitment brings in other solid engineers.

What are you basing that assertion on?

The market is tough but it would be interesting if Apple would actually enter it. They have enough power to seed the network effect needed with a large enough user base. I think this entire saga has actually opened up a nice spot to push really hard for the positioning slot of "secure by default". It's been done by a lot of people including Apple before but I think we're at a point in time where the media echo might be good enough for a big company to make a true positioning play. It's also a great differentiation against Google/Facebook. Apple has voiced the "essentially our competitors are in the we make money off privacy violations business" (in other words) but they might want to hit that harder soon. A bit fickle since you need FB/Google in the "security now" alliance but still interesting.

I'm still skeptical about closed source software for secure X but I guess it's better than nothing.

    > Apple hires plenty of interns all year round, but one particular addition
    > revealed this week caught the eye given the company’s current position
    > opposing a controversial order to enable the FBI to access the iPhone used
    > by one of the San Bernardino shooters.

"hey, there's this software developer who's done some work in the field of security on an app which is famous, and he's going to work at Apple during a time when some issues with Apple's security are in the news. And we noticed and we want to share that with you"

It's interesting. Tech Crunch can write about whatever they want. If you don't like the article, downvote it and move on. Perhaps Ian is just jealous nobody is writing an article about him, because he is clearly smarter than this developer.

When news outlets start writing puff pieces about memes[0], you know that we've all collectively hit rock bottom.

[0] http://qz.com/622001/damn-daniel-the-new-viral-meme-is-gener...

Generally it's courteous to leave a comment explaining a downvote before moving on.

Also, I'm no longer a student in the traditional sense. That's sort of a life mantra of mine, to be perpetually learning. You can think of it as the opposite of your world, in which you think you know everything.

Come on. Don't pretend this is anything more than it is. A really hard-working guy worked hard and built a thing that worth while. Apple said, "hmmm, it would be easier to buy this person than to hire him." So they did.

There is no one-person fix to secure enclave or any of Apple's other problems. You are being delusional. Apple's problems, such as they are, are systemic and cultural. Apple cannot buy its way into better cloud services or better Siri, or better security, and certainly not with the purchase of a such a small company.

Those two things sound the same to me. The guy was hired. What are you saying here?

> There is no one-person fix to secure enclave or any of Apple's other problems

Nobody said he's going to work on that.

> Apple's problems, such as they are, are systemic and cultural. Apple cannot buy its way into better cloud services or better Siri, or better security, and certainly not with the purchase of a such a small company.

You seem to know a lot about Apple's culture. Do you have some evidence to support your claims?

I didn't say all the other parts, or that he's going to do it singlehandedly. Maybe they want to improve end-to-end encryption for iMessage or similar and figure he's got relevant experience.

> Apple's problems, such as they are, are systemic and cultural.

Possibly, but even then, I would argue that this current situation is a culturally defining moment for post-Jobs Apple, maybe even strong enough to override other parts of their culture.

One thing for sure, it's being driven from the very top down and Tim Cook is making clear, unequivocal comments about where the line in the sand is.

In what way did they buy him?

Apple didn't buy Whisper Systems. They hired Frederic Jacobs.