Apple acquired firmware security company LegbaCore last November, as the acquisition was disclosed in a presentation by security researcher Trammel Hudson at the 32C3 conference in December. LegbaCore is focused primarily in security consultancy, with a stated aim to “help build systems that are as secure as we know how to make.” LegbaCore’s founders revealed in November that they had joined Apple as full-time employees, with LegbaCore’s website announcing around that time that it would also “not be accepting any new customer engagements,” but would remain up as a reference for the company’s past work.
LegbaCore and Trammel Hudson previously collaborated to create Thunderstrike 2, the first firmware worm to impact Macs as a proof-of-concept, alerting Apple to the vulnerabilities that the worm exploited. LegbaCore founder Xeno Kovah noted on Twitter that Apple began discussions with the two founders after their presentation in 2015, revealing some “very interesting and highly impactful work” that the two could participate in, eventually convincing them to begin working at Apple.
While LegbaCore doesn’t own any specific technology, it seems likely that the founders have been acquired for their expertise and knowledge in security research to help improve firmware and software security in future Apple products. [via MacRumors]
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