"I'm delighted to announce that I accepted an offer to be working with the CoreOS security team at Apple this summer," Jacobs tweeted on Friday.
I'm delighted to announce that I accepted an offer to be working with the CoreOS security team at Apple this summer.
— Frederic Jacobs (@FredericJacobs) February 25, 2016
Although Jacob’s future role at Apple was unclear, the timing of the announcement set of furious speculation on social media that the move was somehow connected to an ongoing feud between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the maker of the popular iPhone.
Apple is refusing to comply with a court order obtained by the FBI to unlock the phone used by San Bernardino terrorist suspect Syed Rizwan, claiming that the creation of software sought by the FBI could open all its telephones to government spying.
Ironically, Jacobs’ Signal application is a favorite of National Security Whistleblower Edward Snowden, who exposed a massive US government spying program that monitored conversations of world leaders and US embassy cables, according to TC.
One of Apple’s main concerns is that any software created to unlock its iPhones could somehow become public, making all its products vulnerable to US government eavesdropping as well as hackers.