Apple Gives JailbreakMe Developer Internship

Nicholas Allegra, better known by his Twitter name Comex, will be starting an internship at Apple in September. Comex gained fame and fans for his work in developing the JailbreakMe tool that lets users hack their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad so they can install apps that aren’t available through Apple’s own iTunes-based App Store.

JailbreakMe Web siteJailbreak star gets an Apple internship

“So, the week after next I will be starting an internship with Apple,” the 19 year old Mr. Allegra said on Twitter. He isn’t saying exactly what his internship will entail, but it’s a fairly safe bet that he’ll be involved on some level with iOS security.

His work on JailbreakMe has exposed security flaws in the iPhone and iPad operating system, leading to a kind of cat-and-mouse game where Apple would patch the flaws and he would find more to exploit. Mr. Allegra used the flaws he uncovered to enable his easy jailbreak method, although the same exploits could’ve been used by others for more nefarious purposes.

Presumably Mr. Allegra will be using his skills to help Apple harden iOS security, and assuming he plays his cards right, convert his internship into a full time job.