Apple CEO Tim Cook is challenging federal authorities on privacy, and the tech giant's co-founder Steve Wozniak believes late chief executive Steve Jobs would have done the same.

"I think Steve would have gone for the privacy," Wozniak told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Thursday.

Cook on Wednesday denounced a court order requiring the tech giant to help authorities search an iPhone used by one of the attackers who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California last year.

Cook called the order "chilling," saying the government could eventually use it to "extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software" to gather personal data.