Apple has filed a lawsuit against Andrew Oda, a former iOS software engineer, accusing him of leaking “information about more than half a dozen various Apple policies and products.” The leaks included details about the then-unreleased Apple Journal app, Apple's “development of products in the spatial computing space,” and more.
“Mr. “Aud often took and saved screenshots of his messages on his work Apple iPhone to preserve them for posterity.” is alleged in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in California this month and included below, includes several examples of data leaks from Ode's years at Apple. He sent thousands of messages to several journalists at The Information and the Wall Street Journal.
“As noted, according to his work Apple-issued iPhone, Mr. Aude had more than 1,400 encrypted messages with one WSJ journalist over a single four-month period,” he said. This is stated in Apple's lawsuit. “He also sent another The Information journalist more than 10,000 text messages from his work Apple iPhone and traveled across the continent to meet her.”
First example:
Example: Around April 2023, Mr. Aude read an email containing a final list of features for an unannounced Apple app to a WSJ journalist (aka “Homeboy”) over the phone. Mr. Od did this despite the email expressly noting its “confidential” nature and that Apple “only had one shot” to make a “first impression.”
This example and the screenshot above showing timing details clearly refer to a report by Aaron Tilley of The Wall Street Journal. The report was the first to reveal details about Apple's journaling app and was published in the early hours of April 2023.
Second:
As another example, around November 2022, Mr. Od shared confidential details about Apple's strategies on regulatory compliance with his interviewer at another technology company, as well as a WSJ journalist. Mr. Aude knew that details of Apple's upcoming regulatory compliance were, in his own words, “top secret” and not to be disclosed outside of Apple. However, he revealed them anyway.
Third:
As another example, a screenshot of Mr. Oda's Apple-issued work iPhone from October 2020 shows that he disclosed information about Apple's development of products in the spatial computing space to a non-Apple employee. Mr. Od made this statement despite Apple's development efforts being confidential and not publicly known. Over the following months, Mr. Aude disclosed additional confidential Apple information, including information about unannounced products and hardware information.
Four:
As another example, in August 2021, Mr. Aude confirmed a rumor about a design feature of an unreleased Apple device to a non-Apple employee. While admitting that the feature is “one of [Apple's] most secret features,” Mr. Aude revealed the information anyway.
Five:
Another example: in May 2023, Mr. Aude revealed confidential details of Apple's internal product development policies to VSJ Journalist. The journalist subsequently published an article on the same topic that same month.
Six:
As another example, Mr. Od's saved screenshots of his work Apple-issued iPhone show that around September 2023, Mr. Od disclosed confidential details of Apple's analysis of its product's hardware characteristics to a journalist over several conversations. The journalist subsequently published an article on the same topic.
Seven:
Mr. Od also shared information regarding the internal staffing of a specific Apple team in response to questions from The Information. The general information eventually appeared in an article published by a colleague of the journalist in The Information.
In the lawsuit, Apple says it learned of Od's “misconduct”; in the fall of 2023 and asked to meet with him to “discuss his improper disclosures.” During this interview, Od allegedly said he needed to go to the bathroom, using this as an excuse to leave the room and delete evidence from his phone:
Apple became aware of Mr. Oda's misconduct in the fall of 2023. When Apple met with him to discuss his improper disclosures, Mr. Aude immediately confirmed his guilt through his actions, if not his words. At the start of his interview on November 7, 2023, Mr. Ode repeatedly denied that he had passed on any information to anyone. He also stated that he did not have a working Apple iPhone with him.
Feigning the need to go to the restroom in the middle of the interview, Mr. Aude then took his iPhone out of his pocket during a break and permanently deleted a significant amount of evidence from his device. These included the Signal app, which perpetuated his history of leaking information to “Homeboy” (and possibly others) via encrypted communications.
Aude joined Apple in 2016 and worked as a software engineer iOS. to optimize battery performance, among other things. Apple claims that he received multiple promotions during his time at the company. He has since been fired.
According to Apple, through his work on battery performance and iOS, Aude “was privy to information on dozens of Apple's most important projects, including Apple's development of system-on-chip and iPhone products, among others.&# 8221;
Even though his job was terminated, Apple says he “poses an ongoing threat because of his knowledge of Apple's confidential and proprietary information.”
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