Apple Representatives Set To Attend Black Hat Hackers Conference

The Black Hat Conference in Las Vegas has been going on for 15 years, however one major corporation has been noticeably absence from the event where unknown hackers can instantly become projected into the limelight for their exposés and the security failings of massive companies are highlighted!

The missing corporation is Apple of course, for years they have had the confidence in their products and have not felt the need to attend this event, unlike other corporations who have reluctantly trudged along to see how to improve their security across the board.

Well according to the several media outlets, this is all about to change, when Dallas De Atley, manager of Apple’s platform security team is scheduled to give a presentation at the Black Hat Conference on Thursday! De Atley is said to give a talk on the key security technologies in iOS, the operating system for iPhones and iPads.

For years Apple products have boasted the ‘hack-proof’ reputation; people who use Macs often gloating over PC users who were constantly bemoaning the bugs and viruses that would regularly cripple their machines. However in recent times, things have changed quite a bit. PCs that use Microsoft Windows and Smartphones that run on Google’s Android software are still more commonly targeted in this way, however, it appears that Apple are no longer immune!

Black Hat’s general manager, Trey Ford, said it would be the first time that a representative from Apple will have made a presentation at Black Hat or its sibling conference DefCon. He said that employees from the company have been present at the conferences in the past, but have lurked in the shadows rather than take to the stage. Apparently, according to Ford, Apple’s security researchers nearly made a speech at the 2008 conference, however the plan was nipped in the bud by the marketing team the minute they caught wind of it.

Ford says that no one from Apple does anything without approval from the marketing team, but that this time it is different, he said; “Apple will be at Black Hat 2012, and marketing is on board.”

Jordan Robertson, who writes Bloomberg’s Tech Blog said: “Regardless of what is presented, the talk is symbolically significant. Coming from a company that no longer even appears at Macworld, a trade show devoted to its products, the fact it’s giving even a little nod to the hacking world is a big step for a company that embraces the spotlight only on its own terms.”

Apple Warms Up to Hackers, Plans Presentation at Black Hat (Via Bloomberg)

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