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Apple is suing a former employee for allegedly leaking confidential information about products he didn’t like from his workplace-issued iPhone.
In a complaint filed in California court on March 18, Apple alleges that former software engineer Andrew Ord allegedly passed on information about projects such as Apple’s Journal app and Vision Pro to media and other high-tech sources over a five-year period. He said he had shared it with the company’s employees.
The tech giant is suing Ord, who was hired in 2016, for violating a nondisclosure agreement and violating labor laws.
The lawsuit was first reported by MacRumors.
Apple announced that it discovered the breach in late 2023. When questioned, Ord denied any involvement, but later said he had “permanently deleted a large amount of evidence from his devices” under the guise of taking a bathroom break.
This included deleting the Signal app, which he used to communicate, from his work-issued phone.
But the suit says Ord frequently saved screenshots of his communications on his work iPhone “for posterity,” and Apple was able to retrieve them.
According to Apple’s complaint, an analysis of Ord’s Apple-issued work iPhone revealed that Ord had more than 1,400 encrypted communications with a Wall Street Journal journalist over a four-month period. found.
Apple said Ord also sent more than 10,000 text messages to The Information journalist and traveled to meet her.
Ord’s screenshot was attached to the lawsuit. According to Apple, in one particular leak to a Journal reporter around April 2023, Ord’s screenshots show “giddy anticipation” of the “chaos” that awaits the company after the leaked information is published. It is said that it was shown.
Ord also characterized leaking information to other colleagues as a “necessary evil,” according to the report.
“In connection with certain breaches, Mr. Ord acknowledged that he could have ‘killed’ the products and features in question because he violated his obligations to Apple,” Apple said separately in the lawsuit.
According to Apple, multiple reports have been published as a result of Ord’s information leak.
“His revelations also impeded Apple’s ability to surprise and delight with new products,” the tech company said in its lawsuit.
Mr. Ord’s employment was terminated, but Apple said that Mr. Ord knew the company’s confidential and proprietary information and had a “long and extensive history of knowingly and unauthorized disclosure of information to third parties.” It said it posed an “ongoing threat”. ”
Apple is seeking a jury trial, damages, and an order directing Ord not to disclose its confidential or proprietary information to third parties without consent. It also requires Mr. Ord to forfeit any bonuses and restricted stock units.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours.
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