Jonathan Zdziarski is so good at hacking Apple OS that the company decided to hire him.
Apple has quietly brought iOS security expert Jonathan Zdziarski on board the company. Zdziarski is a foremost digital security and forensics expert in all things iOS. He had been kind of a thorn on Apple's side, being a member of a jailbreaking community cracking the company's OS for years, including discovering an iOS backdoor in 2014. On the flip side, he had helped the company during the Apple standout against the FBI during a shooting crime investigation.
Apple did not announce the news; instead, Zdziarski broke it through his blog.
Jonathan Zdziarski Takes An Apple Bite
Writing on his blog, Zdziarski announced that he has accepted to be part of Apple's Security Engineering and Architecture team. He said he's excited to work "with a group of like-minded individuals" who are passionate about security and privacy.
The decision to join could have been brewing for a long time. Zdziarski said that his decision was a natural result of what he feels to be a "matter of conscience" for him over time.
"Privacy is sacred; our digital lives can reveal so much about us - our interests, our deepest thoughts, and even who we love. I am thrilled to be working with such an exceptional group of people who share a passion to protect that," he wrote.
Jonathan Zdziarski - Hacker, Security Expert, And Forensics Scientist In One
It is not like Zdziarski loves cracking iOS for fun. The software engineer and digital forensics scientist is as an advocate of customer privacy and security.
Zdziarski famously called out Apple for its iOS backdoor, a security feature that could compromise privacy. He is also well-known in the jailbreaker circles aka iOS development community as "NerveGas." His works in cracking iOS helped lead the effort to create open-source applications for it. He also wrote a book to teach developers about writing applications for iOS even before Apple made it possible to the public. His other works include books on iPhone SDK Application Development and iPhone forensics.
iPhone forensics is of particular importance, as Zdziarski pioneered the first suite of iOS Forensics Tools. He has worked as a consultant for law enforcement agencies, the government, the military, and the private sector. He has also consulted with and assisted forensic investigators in cases involving iOS, and has also developed popular apps like Ballistic and iErase while routinely doing penetration testing of iOS.
