When former Apple engineer Andrew Aude bumped into the lavatory throughout his breaks, he was utilizing the time to not reply nature’s calls however to delete messaging apps on his telephone. These apps may need contained proof that the software program engineer was leaking info to the media. Per The New York Put up, Apple has filed a lawsuit towards Aude, who labored for the division answerable for Apple’s iPhone working system iOS.
Mockingly, the previous software program engineer used the iPhone given to him by Apple for work use to ship hundreds of textual content messages over 5 years to reporters from The Wall Avenue Journal and The Info. The swimsuit towards Aude was filed by Apple on March 18th in California Superior Court docket accusing him of sending leaks to the media to get sure merchandise and options “that he took concern with” killed off by Apple.
Aude loved being the focus from the media
Apple stated that its former worker sought to undermine Apple by means of his “vainness” and his “private enjoyment of the media’s consideration” which Apple stated “performed a big function in his malfeasance.”
Among the info Aude leaked to the media needed to do with the iPhone’s Journal app
For instance, over 4 months, Aude despatched greater than 1,400 textual content messages to a Wall Avenue Journal reporter utilizing the Sign encrypted messaging app. The lawsuit alleges that the previous Apple worker known as the WSJ reporter the title of “Homeboy” in these texts. It needs to be famous that The Wall Avenue Journal and the New York Put up are each owned by Information Corp.
In a single screenshot of a textual content despatched by Aude to “Homeboy” that appeared within the lawsuit, the disgraced former Apple worker wrote, “Cannot look ahead to chaos to interrupt out earlier than Apple company individuals even get up.” The swimsuit additionally cites a textual content Aude despatched that stated, “[I] love after I get to leak to my WSJ pal.”
As we stated, the WSJ wasn’t the one media group that Aude was in touch with in an try to get Apple to kill off sure options and options. The swimsuit claims that greater than 10,000 texts had been despatched from the previous Apple software program engineer to a reporter from The Info. The courtroom submitting additionally stated that Aude “traveled throughout the continent to satisfy together with her.” One other textual content from the software program engineer talked about within the lawsuit revealed that he wished to “[expletive] with coverage and [the] press.”
The previous Apple worker made up an excuse permitting him to go to the lavatory to wipe proof off of his iPhone
Final fall, Aude’s superiors had a sneaking suspicion that he had been leaking to the press, and once they confronted him about it, he “repeatedly denied that he had leaked any info to anybody.” He additionally instructed his bosses that he didn’t have his Apple-issued iPhone with him. However having stated that, Aude got here up with a ploy to take away the proof from his telephone which he truly did have on his particular person.
A screenshot displaying a textual content written by former Apple software program engineer Aude
“Feigning the necessity to go to the lavatory mid-interview, Mr. Aude then extracted his iPhone from his pocket in the course of the break and completely deleted important quantities of proof from his gadget,” in keeping with the swimsuit. On December twelfth, Aude made a partial admission to Apple when he was requested about why the Sign app was deleted and “provided solely slim admissions restricted to the knowledge he had not been in a position to destroy.”
Apple provided Aude an opportunity to keep away from litigation by cooperating with the investigation and revealing to Apple all the pieces that he had leaked to the press. Nevertheless, Aude refused to cooperate main Apple to proceed with the swimsuit which seeks unspecified damages from the terminated software program engineer.
