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Article by Domain Support
Reuters reports that, “Apple Inc, amid a pitched battle with the U.S. government over law enforcement’s desire to crack into iPhones, has hired a new security executive to oversee its corporate digital defenses, people familiar with the matter said. Apple appointed George Stathakopoulos, formerly vice president of information security at Amazon.com Inc and before that Microsoft Corp’s general manager of product security, to be vice president of corporate information security, the people said. Apple declined to comment on the new hire, but a reporter calling Apple and asking to speak with him was connected to a person answering ‘George’s office’. Stathakopoulos did not immediately return the call.”

Patently Apple says, that Stathakopoulos will be “reporting directly to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook” and “Beyond advising Cook on security issues in their ongoing case with the government, the new position will reportedly be responsible for protecting corporate assets such as the computers used to design products and develop software, as well as data about customers while department heads of hardware and software will remain in charge of protecting users of Apple’s products.” theMacObserver says, “He will also be in charge of protecting customer data” and commented “It’s that last part that may be particularly interesting in light of Apple’s ongoing fight with the FBI to maintain the integrity of iOS devices. The FBI has gotten a court order forcing Apple to create a new operating system—dubbed GovtOS by Apple—that bypasses security protections in iOS. Apple is fighting the order, and both parties will take part in an evidentiary hearing on Tuesday, March 22nd.”

9to5Mac, says, “Stathakopoulos has reportedly been at Apple for roughly a week. It’s an investing hire for Apple, especially with its ongoing case with the FBI over unlocking the iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardino gunmen. The hire highlights Apple’s increasing focus on security. Last month, the company hired the developer behind Edward Snowden’s recommended chat app, while Apple acquired security consultancy company LegbaCore in November.”

This was also reported by FortuneStock Transcript, CSO, and other sources. We have a post about the court case called the Battle for Future Encryption.