Apple reportedly hired Amazon exec to lead corporate security operation

Rumour has it Apple has managed poach Amazon’s vice president of information security days ahead of its meeting with U.S. prosecutors in court over a highly contentious encryption battle over an iPhone connected to the San Bernardino terror attack. Reuters via Fortune reports George Stathakopoulus has been working for Apple for about a week already to head its corporate security operation. It’s said he’s reporting to CFO Luca Maestri. He is supposedly responsible for securing corporate computers used to design and create products and software. He’s also working on systems storing sensitive customer data.

There’s no confirmation yet if he’s been hired and his LinkedIn page still lists Amazon as his employer. But according to Fortune, a reporter called Apple’s switchboard and asked to speak with Stathakopoulus and was then connected to a person who answered, “George’s office.”

Source: Apple Insider

Google hires 4chan founder, speculated to jumpstart their social media bid

Photo by John Dill

Google hasn’t really been able to get into the social media game. Google+ remains an afterthought for users. But with its recent hire it’s speculated that they’re looking to change that. Christopher Poole, the founder of the controversial image-board site 4chan, joins the tech giant. Poole made the announcement on Tumblr saying he planned to “contribute my own experience from a dozen years of building online communities.” This could mean that he is trying to work on the social aspect of the site.

Source: The Guardian

Apple hires former social media head at Nike

It seems like Apple is looking to boost its social media presence with its latest hire. The Cupertino-based tech giant has just hired the former social media head of Nike and Burberry, Musa Tariq. He was most recently the global senior director of social media and community, digital brand for Nike from 2012 to this year. And he was with Burberry from 2009 to 2012 and served as the global director for digital marketing. He became the head of the social media accounts of Burberry in 2011, which was run by Angela Ahrendts, the current retail chief of Apple. Perhaps, Apple is looking to step up its presence on the different social networking sites, particularly since there are no official Twitter or Facebook accounts for the Apple brand itself.

Source: Mashable