Apple has a new head of corporate digital security

Just days before Apple was scheduled to meet with United States prosecutors in court over its refusal to break through the iPhone’s encryption, the company has reportedly hired a new corporate digital security chief. This is according to a report from Reuters on Friday, which claims that the new chief is George Stathakopoulos, who served as a general manager at Microsoft for ten years before working as Amazon’s vice president of information security for another six years. His job will be to not only protect Apple’s digital assets, but its customer data as well.

As its battle with the FBI continues, Apple has reportedly hired a former Amazon executive to oversee its corporate digital defenses, according to Reuters. George Stathakopoulos was vice president of information security at Amazon for 6 years and was a general manager at Microsoft for 10 years before joining Amazon. At Apple, Stathakopoulos will report to CFO Luca Maestri. Reporting to Maestri, Stathakopoulos will take the task of protecting corporate assets, such as confidential software, product, and design information. He will also be helping in protecting data about customers. At Amazon, Stathakopoulos was responsible for programs that protected Amazon and Amazon customers, as well as the company’s IT infrastructure. From Stathakopoulos’ LinkedIn: “Responsible for the programs that protect Amazon and its customers, as well as directing the company’s IT infrastructure and other technology resources. Prior to joining Amazon, George led Microsoft’s global Microsoft Security Response Center and Global Security Strategy & Diplomacy teams responsible for proactively detecting and responding to threats, and partnering with governments on technical and policy security issues.”