JailBreakMe creator lands internship at Apple

A 19-year-old New York man who created a program that allows iPhone users to "jailbreak" the device to run unauthorized applications claims to have landed an internship at Apple.

Nicholas Allegra, creator of the site JailBreakMe, announced the news on Thursday on his Twitter feed @comex.

"The week after next I will be starting an internship with Apple," Allegra said.

Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at computer security firm Sophos, said in a blog post that Allegra has "given Apple plenty of headaches in the last couple of years" finding security vulnerabilities in the iPhone.

"Each time Allegra has found a flaw in Apple's software, the company has been forced to rush out a security patch," Cluley said.

Commenting on an internship for Apple's nemesis, he said: "From Apple's point of view it's a case of: If you can't beat them, get them to join you."

In June, Facebook hired George Hotz, a hacker known as "GeoHot" who was sued by Sony for hacking the PlayStation 3 game console and is credited with being the first person to go public with a way to hack into an iPhone.