Renowned Apple hacker Charlie Miller hired by Twitter

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Charlie Miller, a security expert who gained fame highlighting exploits in Apple's Mac and iOS operating systems, has been hired by social networking service Twitter.

Miller announced via his Twitter account on Friday that he starts working at the Twitter security team on Monday.

"Looking forward to working with a great team there," he wrote. His new job title will be Software Engineer, Systems.

The company is said to have been interested in hiring Miller for full-time security assistance since last winter, according to Forbes. It speculated that he will be a "highly-skilled intrusion artist" attempting to discover holes in Twitter's security.

Miller's hire at Twitter is noteworthy to Apple users, as he has helped to expose a number of vulnerabilities in Apple. In 2009, he made headlines when after winning the Pwn2Own hacking contest, he declared that Apple's Mac platform is safer than Microsoft's Windows.

Charlie Miller
Charlie Miller, via his Twitter account.


At the same competition in 2011, he exposed a flaw in the Safari Web browser in Apple's iOS platform. The vulnerability information was provided directly to Apple so that the issue could be patched and addressed before it became public.

Recently, Miller has also been working to crack Google's Android mobile operating system. At this summer's Black Hat conference, he demonstrated security flaws in the near-field communication payment system found in a number of Android smartphones, including Google's Nexus S and Samsung's Galaxy S.

Miller was asked Friday via Twitter if Apple ever showed interest in hiring him. He revealed that the iPhone maker "never even floated the idea much less made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10


    In a few months, Twitter will release a new application for either OS X or iOS which is quickly pulled by Apple for using private APIs or breaking sandboxing. They will claim it is Apple's fault.

  • Reply 2 of 10


    K.

  • Reply 3 of 10

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    Miller was asked Friday via Twitter if Apple ever showed interest in hiring him. He revealed that the iPhone maker "never even floated the idea much less made me an offer I couldn't refuse."


     


    Maybe security isn't really one of Apple's problems, which at this point, over a decade after OS X's release, still isn't.


     


    Google might want to make him an offer, though. 

  • Reply 4 of 10
    Why didn't Apple hire him? Or is it because he doesn't want to work at Apple?

    It would make sense to hire the guy who found the most exploit of your system.
  • Reply 5 of 10
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    wurm5150 wrote: »
    Why didn't Apple hire him? Or is it because he doesn't want to work at Apple?
    It would make sense to hire the guy who found the most exploit of your system.

    Maybe Apple respects law and order and chooses not to hire criminals.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Wurm5150 View Post



    Why didn't Apple hire him? Or is it because he doesn't want to work at Apple?



    It would make sense to hire the guy who found the most exploit of your system.


    Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

  • Reply 7 of 10
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post



    Maybe Apple respects law and order and chooses not to hire criminals.


    Apple hired iOS hacker Comex who was much more of a menace than Miller.

  • Reply 8 of 10

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


     


    Maybe security isn't really one of Apple's problems, which at this point, over a decade after OS X's release, still isn't.


     


    Google might want to make him an offer, though. 



    Maybe not now, but it could be in the near future as Macbooks and iMacs continue to grow in popularity.  By looking at this chart, it makes much more sense to hack the OSes that more people are using, and OSX is a very small percentage of that.  With Apple's increasing popularity they will get more attention from the hacker community as well.


     


  • Reply 9 of 10


    Originally Posted by Freshmaker View Post

    With Apple's increasing popularity they will get more attention from the hacker community as well.


     


    Nope.

  • Reply 10 of 10
    kk.
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