Apple engineers threat to quit if asked to weaken iPhone security

Apple employees are discussing what they will do if ordered to help law enforcement authorities. Some say they may balk at the work, while others may even quit their high-paying jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have created

Apple employees are discussing what they will do if ordered to help law enforcement authorities. Some say they may balk at the work, while others may even quit their high-paying jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have created (Pixabay)

Apple employees who work on keeping the iPhone users' data safe are in a fix. While the Apple CEO, Tim Cook holds his ground on protecting their customer's privacy, the FBI and Justice Department of US is trying to get the company to create a universal key capable of unlocking any iPhone under the sky. According to a report by the New York Times, "Apple employees are discussing what they will do if ordered to help law enforcement authorities. Some say they may balk at the work, while others may even quit their high-paying jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have created, according to more than a half-dozen current and former Apple employees."

This is an added hurdle in the race that the FBI is trying to win. Even if they legally force Apple to create a key, the employees might refuse to do so and quit. Without the coders who developed the security feature on iPhones, it will be as hard as it already is, to create a universal key that unlocks iPhones.

The employees' concerns also provide insight into a company culture that despite the trappings of Silicon Valley wealth still views the world through the decades-old, anti-establishment prism of co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, reported NYT.

Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, last month telegraphed what his employees might do in an email to customers: "The same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to weaken those protections and make our users less safe," Cook wrote.