Apple Is Poaching From Google's iPhone Hacking Team (vice.com) 18
Apple has poached a key member of Google's Project Zero, a hacking team at Google that has found dozens of critical vulnerabilities in Apple's iOS and other critical Apple software. From a report: Last year, Apple and Google fought over a series of vulnerabilities that Project Zero discovered in iOS, with Apple suggesting that Google was overselling the vulnerabilities. About a year later, Brandon Azad announced on Twitter at the beginning of October that he was leaving Google's elite team of hackers to join Apple. "My teammates at Project Zero have been among the kindest and smartest people I've met, and I've learned so much from them," Azad wrote. "I'll really miss working alongside everyone on the team. Thank you all for these wonderful experiences, and keep on hacking!" Azad has been widely considered one of the best iPhone hackers who didn't work for Apple, being named by Apple in countless security advisories, and presenting highly technical findings on Apple's products at major cybersecurity conferences around the world. Last year, Motherboard profiled Project Zero and revealed that Apple had been trying to poach a colleague of Azad, Ian Beer.
hire then stifle (Score:2, Interesting)
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There is this odd balance between public vulnerabilities and private ones.
If it is public, the company has a large interest to fix the problem quickly thus make the product more secure.
If it is private, the company and fix the problem, before others come up and use the vulnerability against them, also it allows them to come up with perhaps a better solution too. So the users are on the average more safe.
You don't post on Facebook, I forgot to lock my doors, and I just bought a new TV, and now I am on vacati
Poached? (Score:5, Insightful)
What a terrible way to describe _market competition_ for employees.
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That was my thought too.
I guess the term used depends if you are a Google Fan vs an Apple Fan.
If a company wants to give you better compensation for your work, be it better hours, better pay, work environment, or leadership who is trying to a reason to fire you. You should switch companies. Granted when competition is tight, you run into IP law that could be an issue.
Re: Poached? (Score:1)
Re: Poached? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's clearly an "hire then stifle" issue...
I doubt that. I don't know Brandon personally, but I do know a lot of P0 team members, and none of them would be willing to accept a job that didn't allow them to publish the vulns they find. Apple may allow themselves more than the 90 days that P0 offers to fix vulns, but I'm sure he'll still publish. P0 team members are also very careful not to allow themselves to be "tainted" by internal information that might prevent them from publishing, so I don't think Apple will be able to silence him that way, either.
And, in any case, Apple actually does understand security, and no one who does would want to hire a security researcher to shut them up. They hire security researchers to find the vulnerabilities early, so they can fix them before anyone else finds them.
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No doubt that Apple has their own team to find their own vulnerabilities, the sooner the better. I would certainly expect them to be one of the better Apple teams anywhere. Apple and Microsoft have both come very far from where they used to be for security. Certainly there are also the philosopher types like P0. All of these people are interested in disclosing what they find, yet all of them have competing interests. They also all have competing ideas on should be done.
That being said, security experts cert
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It wasn't that long ago that both companies were in court for running an 'anti-poaching' cartel.
https://apple.slashdot.org/sto... [slashdot.org]
Re: Poached? (Score:2)
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Yes 100%. Right-to-work goes both ways.
Poaching? Fuck you. (Score:5, Insightful)
We are not deer, or pheasants, you corporate cocksuckers.
We have agency, we are not slaves.
Eat a whole bag of dicks up.
Re:Poaching? Fuck you. (Score:4, Funny)
So he was gently boiled (Score:1)
And a little bit runny on the inside.
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I like this idea.
The problem is that "trade secrets" are poorly defined, and laws generally allow employers carte blanche to define them however they like, then prosecute former employees with civil and criminal litigation. So there's little incentive for employers to give employees any additional power, except in these rare "superstar" instances.