Apple has filed a lawsuit in opposition to Andrew Aude, a former iOS Software program Engineer, accusing him of leaking “details about greater than a half-dozen totally different Apple insurance policies and merchandise.” The leaks included particulars about Apple’s then-unreleased Journal app, Apple’s “improvement of merchandise inside the spatial computing house,” and extra.
“Mr. Aude usually took and saved screenshots of his communications on his Apple-issued work iPhone to protect them for posterity,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit, filed in California this month and embedded beneath, contains a number of examples of Aude’s leaks through the years at Apple. He despatched 1000’s of messages to a number of journalists at each The Info and the Wall Road Journal.
“As famous, based on knowledge from his Apple-issued work iPhone, Mr. Aude had over 1,400 encrypted communications with a single WSJ journalist over a single four-month interval,” Apple’s lawsuit says. “He additionally despatched one other journalist at The Info over 10,000 textual content messages from his Apple-issued work iPhone and traveled throughout the continent to satisfy together with her.”
The primary instance:
As one instance, round April 2023, Mr. Aude learn an e-mail containing the ultimate characteristic listing for an unannounced Apple app to a WSJ journalist (aka “Homeboy”) over the telephone. Mr. Aude did so although the e-mail expressly famous its “confidential” nature and that Apple “solely ha[d] one shot” to make a “first impression.”
This instance, and the above screenshot displaying timing particulars, clearly refers to a report from Aaron Tilley at The Wall Road Journal. The report was the primary to disclose particulars about Apple’s journaling app and was printed in April 2023 within the early morning.
Second:
As one other instance, round November 2022, Mr. Aude shared confidential particulars about Apple’s methods for regulatory compliance together with his interviewer at one other know-how firm and in addition with a WSJ journalist. Mr. Aude knew that particulars about Apple’s forthcoming regulatory compliance had been, in his personal phrases, “high secret” and never for disclosure outdoors of Apple. However, he disclosed them anyway.
Third:
As one other instance, an October 2020 screenshot on Mr. Aude’s Apple-issued work iPhone exhibits that he disclosed Apple’s improvement of merchandise inside the spatial computing house to a non-Apple worker. Mr. Aude made this disclosure although Apple’s improvement efforts had been confidential and never recognized to the general public. Over the next months, Mr. Aude disclosed further Apple confidential info—together with info regarding unannounced merchandise, and {hardware} info.
4:
As one other instance, in August 2021 Mr. Aude corroborated a rumor a couple of design characteristic of an unreleased Apple machine to a non-Apple worker. Though recognizing that the characteristic was “one in all [Apple’s] greatest secret options,” Mr. Aude disclosed the data anyway.
5:
As one other instance, in Could 2023, Mr. Aude disclosed confidential particulars concerning Apple’s inner product improvement insurance policies to a WSJ journalist. The journalist subsequently printed an article on the identical topic that month.
Six:
As one other instance, Mr. Aude’s saved screenshots on his Apple-issued work iPhone reveal that, round September 2023, Mr. Aude disclosed confidential particulars about Apple’s evaluation of its product {hardware} traits to a journalist by way of a number of conversations. The journalist subsequently printed an article on the identical topic.
Seven:
Mr. Aude additionally shared info associated to Apple’s inner staffing on a particular Apple group in response to questions from a journalist at The Info. The shared info in the end appeared in an article printed by the journalist’s colleague at The Info.
Within the lawsuit, Apple says it discovered of Aude’s “misconduct” within the fall of 2023 and requested a gathering with him to “talk about his improper disclosures.” Throughout this interview, Aude allegedly stated he wanted to go to the toilet, utilizing that as an excuse to depart the room and delete proof off his telephone:
Apple discovered of Mr. Aude’s misconduct within the fall of 2023. When Apple met with him to debate his improper disclosures, Mr. Aude promptly confirmed his guilt by way of his actions, if not his phrases. At the beginning of his November 7, 2023 interview, Mr. Aude repeatedly denied that he had leaked any info to anybody. He additionally claimed that he didn’t have his Apple-issued work iPhone with him.
Feigning the necessity to go to the toilet mid-interview, Mr. Aude then extracted his iPhone from his pocket throughout the break and completely deleted vital quantities of proof from his machine. This included the Sign app, which memorialized his historical past of leaking info to “Homeboy” (and sure others) by way of encrypted communications.
Aude joined Apple in 2016 and labored as an iOS Software program Engineer engaged on optimizing battery efficiency, amongst different issues. Apple says he obtained a number of promotions over the tenure on the firm. He has since been terminated.
As a consequence of his work on battery efficiency and iOS, Apple says Aude “was aware of info concerning dozens of Apple’s most delicate initiatives, together with Apple’s improvement of systems-on-chips and iPhone merchandise, amongst others.”
Though his employment has been terminated, Apple says he “poses an ongoing risk based mostly on his data of Apple’s confidential and proprietary info.”
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