Twitter strengthens its security team with the hiring of iOS hacker Charlie Miller

In an attempt to make its products and services more secure, Twitter has hired iPhone hacker and mobile security expert Charlie Miller, who will start his first day with the company on Monday.

Miller shared the news by way of his personal Twitter account (where else?), noting that he would be working with the company’s security team at the start of next week:

Monday I start on the security team at Twitter.Looking forward to working with a great team there!

— Charlie Miller (@0xcharlie) September 14, 2012

Twitter issued a short statement noting that Miller’s title will be that of Software Engineer, but declined to discuss any further details.

Miller, a former NSA analyst who works as a researcher with Accuvant, is well known in hacking and Apple circles for his exploits of iPhone and Mac vulnerabilities.

At the end of last year, Miller discovered a bug in Apple’s iOS platform, allowing him to execute downloaded code on iPhones, iPads and iPod touch units. At the time, he was due to present at a security conference in Taiwan, but found his membership to the iOS Developer Program revoked and his apps removed from the App Store.

Before that, Miller had managed to take advantage of a vulnerability in Apple’s Safari app on iOS, using a rigged website to initiate a drive-by exploit that would crash the browser and allow him to copy the contents of a user’s address book. The exploit made sure he won the Pwn2Own hacking event.

He’s also found flaws in the way Google’s Android operating system implemented NFC.

If reports that Twitter is looking to get more users using its website and official apps instead of third-party clients, the company is going to have to make sure its products are secure.

Miller leaves his job as computer security researcher with the consulting firm Accuvant.