Samsung Hires Android Hacker, Steve "Cyanogen" Kondick

Samsung Mobile has hired the prolific and well-known Android hacker, Steve Kondik, perhaps better known by his Web-persona, Cyanogen.

Tech blog, Endgadget, was the among the first to report the news after a slew of readers sent them links to Kondick’s Facebook page, where his employment status had been updated to “Software Engineer at Samsung Mobile.” The report was later confirmed when Samsung USA’s twitter account (@Samsungtweets) sent out a tweet welcoming Kondik (@Cyanogen) to their team.

Kondik is best known for his project, Cyanogenmod, a customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for several Android devices.

It is unclear at the moment whether Kondik will continue work on Cyanogenmod. The other obvious question is whether or not Samsung Mobile plans on acquiring Cyanogenmod, which also remains unclear, but, Endgadget reports that Kondik says his side project and new employer are not affiliated in any way.

Kondik's decision to join Samsung Mobile follows yesterday’s enormous mobile story that Google had jumped into the mobile hardware market by acquiring Motorola. 
(If you are interested in how Google's acquisition of Motorola might affect Android security, make sure you check out Threatpost contributor, B.K. DeLong's article on the matter.) His hiring is just the latest example of a prominent hacker or platform modder finding the doors of corporate America opening. In June, Facebook announced that it had hired famed Play Station and iPhone hacker George Hotz (GeoHot) as a security engineer in June. 

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