Charlie Miller, a highly regarded security researcher, well known for demonstrating flaws on Apple products and in computer systems on vehicles, announced on Monday he is leaving Twitter's security team after a three-year stay. He said he plans to announce his next move next week.
At security trade shows, Miller, often with Chris Valasek of IOActive, demonstrated flaws in the Apple OS and iPhone and more recently in the UConnect system of some Fiat Chrysler vehicles that allowed the pair to penetrate the cellular network and then enter the entertainment system to gain control of the engine, brakes and steering. Chrysler recalled millions of vehicles owing to the flaw.
While at Twitter, Miller is cited as advocating for the implementation of two-factor authentication and other security enhancements.
After 3 years I'm stepping down from protecting the tweets, effective Friday. Good times, great coworkers, time to move on. Be free, tweets!
— Charlie Miller (@0xcharlie) August 24, 2015Before Twitter, Miller was a security researcher and consultant with Accuvant and Independent Security Evaluators. He also spent five years working for the National Security Agency. The so-called "Mac Hacker" was the first researcher to find a critical bug in the MacBook Air and, in 2009, showed a flaw in SMS processing that opened up Apple iPhone to attack, as well as finding a number of critical bugs in OS X through the years. He also participated in research that uncovered security flaws in near field communication (NFC).
He is a popular speaker at Black Hat, Pwn2Own, DefCon and other conferences and trade shows, including delivering a keynote at NATO's International Conference on Cyber Conflict. Investigative Reporter Brian Krebs named Miller one of "The Internet's Top 10 Most Controversial Figures of 2008."
Miller and Valasek were featured on the cover of SC Magazine in December 2013.
