Apple Rehires Security Expert As Company Stocks-Up Ammunition For Encryption Showdown

We don't need to tell you that Apple has been dealing with some extreme issues revolving around encryption in recent months. Most of the hassle was spurred back in December when the FBI wanted the Cupertino company to help break into a terrorist's iPhone 5c, something it refused to do.

As time went on, the FBI figured out its own solution to getting in, much to Apple's chagrin. Since then, government agencies have made use of this newfound power to gain access to consumer iPhones, and that has guaranteed just one thing: hardware vendors are going to push even harder to make sure this isn't possible in the future.

What's a company to do in a situation like this? Rehire a top security expert, that's what. In Apple's case, that expert is Jon Callas, someone who's been in the security field for many years, and has launched many successful projects, including PGP, Silent Circle, and Blackphone, which is coincidentally a smartphone designed to offer impenetrable security.

Callas has a long history with Apple, having worked for the company in the 90s, and again during 2009 - 2011, when he headed up an OS X security project. With Apple bringing him back yet again, it shows just how important the increasing user security has become. While Apple might not have been able to prevent the FBI from accessing an older iPhone, it's reassuring to see the company pressing so hard to better strengthen its future products. Hopefully other companies follow suit, sooner rather than later.