14 DAY TRIAL // Amsterdam’s 2012 edition of the Hack in the Box conference has yielded quite a few interesting tidbits about the jailbreaking scene, thanks to three famed hackers - @Pod2g (Cyril), @p0sixninja (Joshua Hill), and @pimskeks (Nikias Bassen).
There’s still more to squeeze out of them, including an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1, but for now, here’s what they had to say when we asked: Would you like to be on Apple’s payroll?
Nikias Bassen said, "It depends. I could imagine that, but it depends on what they want us to work on.”
“I mean, security stuff is actually what we do, so, if the offer is high enough, nobody would really say no. On the other hand it's maybe a cut-off from the jailbreak scene,” he explained.
“I think the best example is Comex. He's still sort of active, but, well, he cannot really do anything because Apple is watching him,” said Nikias, best known by his Twitter handle @pimskeks.
He went on to elaborate on Comex’s recent hiring at Apple, saying: “He's not allowed to do like ‘the stuff,’ so that's the downside of this. It would be a really difficult decision because we are so close together and if someone will just step out of the team and, I don't know.”
Putting himself in Comex’s shoes, Nikias said “I think everybody would understand that I work for Apple, but, yes, they would also say that ‘it's really sad because we lose a big member of the team.’ Whoever it is, I'm not specially talking about me,” said Nikias Bassen.
When Pod2g’s turn came up to answer the same question, the hacker didn’t hesitate one moment: “Yes, I would really be happy to work for Apple,” he told us.
Pod2g, whose real name is Cyril, said “I’m a big Apple fan for a long time now, and I may be kind of egoist, talking about the team and other things, but if Apple would propose me something interesting, then yes, I would really be happy to work for Apple.”
“This is one of my goals in life. Even if it's not in the security field, even if it's in developing applications, or developing website, or anything involving Apple, would make me happy,” he told us.
Pod2g is reportedly preparing to unleash his untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1 today. The hacker also told us they already had some exploits that would compromise iOS 6 as well.
Finally, Joshua Hill, best known in Twitter circles as p0sixninja, had a different answer for us. Unlike his fellow hackers Pod2g and pimskeks, p0sixninja wouldn’t give up his passion for a job at the Cupertino company formerly run by Steve Jobs:
“I wouldn't wanna work for Apple,” he bluntly said. “I like more the hacking stuff, really. I like it on this side of the fence.”
We’ll publish the full interview with the three hacking gurus soon enough. In the meantime, here’s our video overview of the Hack in the Box conference in Amsterdam.
Softpedia is an official media partner of the HITB2012 conference.