Jonathan Zdziarski
Jonathan Zdziarski.
Apple has hired Jonathan Zdziarski, a veteran security researcher who helped the company fight the FBI's request to hack an iPhone used by a shooter from the 2015 San Bernardino shooting.
Zdziarski announced on Tuesday that he had accepted a position within Apple's security engineering and architecture team.
"This decision marks the conclusion of what I feel has been a matter of conscience for me over time," he wrote on his personal blog. "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."
A vocal expert in the security research community, Zdziarski first made headlines in 2014 for alleging that Apple had created a "backdoor" into its software that could be used to get private information.
When the FBI tried to force Apple to break the encryption on an iPhone owned by a shooter involved in the San Bernardino attack, Zdziarski helped file an amicus brief in support of Apple.
Now that Zdziarski has joined secretive Apple as an employee, he'll likely maintain a much lower public profile. His Twitter account has already been shut down.