So this was the whole iOS 9 source code? If so - it's time for the "Planned Obsolescence" to be pointed out by those here who claim it's totally true and totally deliberate and -not- just a matter of previous gen hardware running new generation software.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone Source Code Was Leaked by Low-Level Apple Employee
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
True. I an reasonably certain Craig Frederighi (or at least his hair) knows his way around code. Possibly even Jon Ivy.
It's a pity it's an iOS-only leak. What would really be useful is a MacOS leak, as the open-source part of Darwin cannot easily be built and installed (there are projects, taking years, and not yet complete -see PureDarwin- trying to achieve this). While a MacOS leak would not be the final solution (Apple wouldn't allow to distribute it), it would certainly help a lot in getting a final and standalone Darwin working, which would be very convenient nowadays, considering the current (miss)direction of Apple.
[doublepost=1518260289][/doublepost]
[doublepost=1518260289][/doublepost]
You mean? Will Apple cooperate with the FBI this time?
Folks, he wasn't fired from Apple. He was "booted." He he. 
Seriously, you folks who coldly and harshly demand jail or name-call should consider that the same standard you use in judging others will be the standard by which you will be judged. For that reason, I prefer to go easy on others. I want leniency and mercy on my day of judgment.
Seriously, you folks who coldly and harshly demand jail or name-call should consider that the same standard you use in judging others will be the standard by which you will be judged. For that reason, I prefer to go easy on others. I want leniency and mercy on my day of judgment.
The article said that the employee was unhappy with Apple for some reason, meaning that one of the "best companies in the industry or world" was failing to gain loyalty from its "low-level" employees. There is then mention of the person being an "intern", which is basically someone who works for nothing. As has become common over the last decade or so, after the tech crash in early 2000s, the "best companies..." are paying relatively low salaries with meager benefits to their rank and file personnel. In terms of loyalty, they reap what they sow and get what they (don't) pay for. Guys like Federighi probably haven't coded in many years, but he likely does hire and have controls over compensation. Interns with access to sensitive system code is a corporate snafu.
Apple should summon the Central Council and sentence the guy to an old fashioned iPhone bricking. Bury him half way in a pit of Android phones and then have other low-level employees toss bricked iPhone 4's at him until he passes out then subject him to 50 years hard labor at a FoxConn plant.
OK, seriously, Apple needs to get it's psy-ops employee training together. First the dad who let his kid vlog about iPhone X weeks before its introduction, now this -- albeit this is more serious. If employees are not loyal to their employer, OK. Not really expected in the Millennial-era. But employees need to know they will become unemployable universally if they are tagged as disloyal. No company wants to hire a serpent that might bite it. Apparently this message is not getting though. I do hope Apple uses him as a very public example to the extend the law allows.
OK, seriously, Apple needs to get it's psy-ops employee training together. First the dad who let his kid vlog about iPhone X weeks before its introduction, now this -- albeit this is more serious. If employees are not loyal to their employer, OK. Not really expected in the Millennial-era. But employees need to know they will become unemployable universally if they are tagged as disloyal. No company wants to hire a serpent that might bite it. Apparently this message is not getting though. I do hope Apple uses him as a very public example to the extend the law allows.
Craig still codes and integrates into the code base. All software execs do at Apple.
[doublepost=1518275452][/doublepost]
Interns have access to the code for the projects they work on. They’re also employees of the company subject to the same NDA agreements as other employees (this is Apple Corporate, not the retail arm). Said intern being disgruntled or any of the myriad of excuses being pushed on here to forgive his behavior simply doesn’t matter. He is a thief and should be doing hard time.
[doublepost=1518275612][/doublepost]
That’s fine. I don’t steal software source code.
Oh? Have you been naughty and stole source code too? Is there anything you want to confess?
Because it's an absolute dick move. It's like someone who took nude pictures of their boyfriend or girlfriend and then decide it's fun to post them on the internet. F*** you. Someone who is stupid enough to listen to five "friends" to publish company secret, how can that person ever trusted with anything? Give him a job at McDonald's, and what happens when his five friends decide they should get free burgers and a part of the money that goes in the till?
It's a secret, but not a trade secret. A trade secret is something that gives your company a competitive advantage due to its secrecy. A trade secret is something that would give say Samsung an advantage if they found out. Like Samsung would _love_ to know how much Apple pays for TMSC made CPUs. This code doesn't help Samsung in any way. They can't use it, that would be copyright infringement. They can't exploit it, that would be jail time.
Not only fired. The employment agreement is reported to permit Apple to sue the employee for the leak. He might have to say goodbye to any savings or assets, and hello to a huge legal bill.
Unless you do this. Not only will be massive fined, may face jail time and on top of that will be completely blacklisted from the tech industry.
It’s absolutely a trade secret. Your argument to the contrary is circular. Using a stolen trade secret is a violation of intellectual property, same as copyright infringement. Samsung can look at the source code and learn all sorts of things and use them without making copies of the code in their own devices.
[doublepost=1518296704][/doublepost]
Agreement or not, apple would still be able to sue.
What good is a lawsuit against someone with no assets? It's a waste of time and money.
This theft occurred two years ago and was kept within the small circle of jailbreak devs until it was deemed "old stuff" and someone posted it to bragg and show their cred. The larger question is how much of current iOS code is circulating out there?
There are tools that 'reformat' code isn't there ? Or, they have templates or strict guidelines on the look/style of code.
There are uniform rules that Apple developers must adhere to before they can integrate their code. Apple gets that everybody thinks they know best and their own style or what not is superior. But that doesn't help a product with thousands of developers so they must all conform to the programming styles and guidelines that have been in place for 20+ years. The Darwin source is as close to an understanding of those rules as non-Apple people will see.
"It's not the original leak. It's a copy." What the heck does that mean? Does the person understand how computer files work?
"friends", not friends.
[doublepost=1518362392][/doublepost]
It's a copy of a copy of a copy, so it may be a bit fuzzy & crackly.
Yep. Dude literally ruined his career in software development and honestly IT in general. How foolish.
[doublepost=1518370399][/doublepost]
It's normal for low level software devs to have this kind of access, its part of the job. Would he have full access to everything Apple has? No, but he'd have access to the tools needed to do his job. He just decided to steal them.
In my company no low level developer gets access to our secure closed source boot code. Only senior developers have that kind of access. Certainly never interns haha. With that boot code you could get our operating system to run on any third party hardware undermining our entire business model of selling the software embedded on our own hardware, it's the keys to the proverbial castle.
A “low-level Apple employee?!?” Shouldn’t that be a “low-level, FORMER Apple employee?”
Earlier this week, source code for iBoot, a core component of the iPhone's operating system, leaked on GitHub. The code was old, for a version of iOS 9, and it was quickly pulled from GitHub after Apple issued a DMCA takedown notice, but it left many wondering how such sensitive code ended up publicly available.
To answer that question, Motherboard got in touch with unnamed sources who were involved in the leak and investigated screenshots, text messages, and more, to determine just how it happened.
As it turns out, the code originally came from a low-level Apple employee who took the code from Apple in 2016 to share with friends in the jailbreaking community. This employee wasn't unhappy with Apple and didn't steal the code with malicious intent, but instead was encouraged by friends to obtain the code to benefit the jailbreaking community.The original group of five people who were provided with access to the code didn't intend to share it, but it somehow got out. From one of the original people involved:The code began circulating more widely in 2017 and picked up in popularity late in the year before ending up on GitHub this week. Many in the jailbreaking and iPhone research communities attempted to stop sharing, but the major public leak couldn't be avoided.
According to the unnamed people who spoke to Motherboard, what leaked wasn't the "full leak." "It's not the original leak-it's a copy," said one source.
Following the leak, Apple confirmed the authenticity of the code in a statement to MacRumors and pointed out that it's for a three-year-old operating system that's been replaced by iOS 11 and is in use only on a small number of devices.The iBoot code leak should not be of concern to the average user because Apple has many layers of protection in place, like the Secure Enclave, and does not rely on source code secrecy alone to keep its users safe. The leak could, however, make it easier for people to locate vulnerabilities to create new jailbreaks.
Article Link: iPhone Source Code Was Leaked by Low-Level Apple Employee
(I do wonder though how far gone we will have to be before it becomes legal in America for a slighted corporation to murder its employees when they do stuff like this, rather than merely firing them. Every day it seems we live in a progressively more and more Orwellian dystopian nightmare hellscape where corporations not only own our government officials, (they already do,) and are regarded as “people” same as real, ACTUAL people, but start to get more rights and privileges than we, actual, real, flesh-and-blood people do. How soon until we enter into a new feudalism where we must address the officers of corporations (even if we don’t work for them,) as “mi’lord”?
[doublepost=1518373847][/doublepost]
(I’ll add that if this were slashdot, this post would get at least one “Well, I for one WELCOME mi’ (new corporate over-) lords!” Then we’d all laugh and cry at the state of our dying world.