Apple hires Encryption Expert to Beef Up Security on its Devices

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies have waged legal war on encryption and privacy technologies.

You may have heard many news stories about the legal battle between Apple and the FBI over

unlocking an iPhone

that belonged to the San Bernardino shooter. However, that was just one battle in a much larger fight.

Now, in an effort to make its iPhone surveillance-and-hack proof, Apple has rehired security expert and cryptographer

Jon Callas

, who co-founded the widely-used

email encryption

software

PGP

and the secure-messaging system Silent Circle that sells the Blackphone.

This is not Apple’s first effort over its

iPhone security

.

Just a few months back, the company hired

Frederic Jacobs

, one of the key developers of

Signal

— World's most secure, open source and

encrypted messaging app

.

Now Apple has rehired Callas, who has previously worked for Apple twice, first from 1995 to 1997 and then from 2009 to 2011.

During his second joining, Callas designed a

full-disk encryption

system to protect data stored on Macintosh computers.

Apple's decision to rehire Callas comes after rumors that the company is working on improving the security of its iOS devices in such a way that even Apple can't hack.

Also Read: What If Apple Engineers are Kidnapped and Forced to Write (Exploit) Code

?

"Callas has said he is against companies being compelled by law enforcement to break into their own encrypted products," the report reads.

"But he has also said he supports a compromise proposal under which law enforcement officials with a court order can take advantage of undisclosed software vulnerabilities to hack into tech systems, as long as they disclose the vulnerabilities afterward so they can be patched."

Earlier this year, Apple was engaged in a battle with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over a court order asking the company to help the FBI

unlock iPhone 5C

of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook.

Basically, the company was deliberately forced to create a special,

backdoored version of its iOS

, so that the FBI may be able to Brute Force the passcode on Farook's iPhone without losing the data stored in it.

Although Apple refused to do so, and now the Apple wanted to remove its own ability to break its iPhone security in future iPhone models, thereby eliminating the chances for government and intelligence agencies for demanding backdoors.

from The Hacker News http://ift.tt/1Tyjfzc