Edible Apple

Apple recently hired noted security expert Ivan Krstic, who had previously worked as the director of security architecture for the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative.  While working at OLPC, Krstic was tasked with making computers easy to use while simultaneously keeping them safe from malicious software.

As part of his work, he developed the Bitfrost system which takes a somewhat varied approach to fighting viruses and such.  Rather than writing code that addresses certain kinds of viruses specifically, Bitforst instead quarantines viruses inside a virtual OS, preventing them from causing any damage to the core OS.

Zdnet writes:

Viruses are left isolated and impotent, unable to execute their code. “This defeats the entire purpose of writing a virus,” says Krstic.

According to his blog, Kristic begain working at Apple (which he references as a “local fruit vendor”) yesterday, though it remains unclear what exactly he’ll be working on.  General OS X security?  The mythical Apple Tablet?  Either way, the guy’s resume¹ is solid and it’ll be interesting to see what type of security implementations we see from Apple in the future.

Oh, and by the way, he’s only 23.

¹ Krstic was named one of the world’s top innovators under the age of 35 by the MIT Technology Review, in addition to being named one of the most influential security experts in the world by eWeek magazine.