Leaks are a fixed a part of massive product information cycles, significantly for firms like Apple. On-line soothsayers like Jon Prosser and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman have lengthy predicted the content material of upcoming Apple bulletins, citing nameless sources from throughout the firm to glean glimpses of what’s subsequent. They’ve been appropriate usually sufficient to develop into an actual ache for the Cupertino firm.
Now, Apple has seized upon a chance to struggle again in opposition to leaks. In a criticism filed Thursday in US federal court docket for the Northern District of California, Apple is accusing distinguished leaker Jon Prosser of allegedly scheming to “break into an Apple growth iPhone, steal Apple’s commerce secrets and techniques, and revenue from the theft.”
The go well with alleges that, together with a co-conspirator, Prosser, who makes movies on the YouTube channel Entrance Web page Tech, intentionally took benefit of an Apple worker named Ethan Lipnik who had entry to a developer iPhone working the as-of-yet unreleased software program that will develop into iOS 26. The go well with alleges that the opposite defendant, Michael Ramacciotti, who was staying at Lipnik’s residence on the time, waited for Lipnik to depart earlier than accessing the event cellphone and exhibiting particulars of the unreleased software program to Prosser over a video name. Prosser then allegedly used info obtained in that early peek at iOS in movies that he posted on his YouTube channel effectively earlier than Apple formally introduced the updates.
The go well with additionally alleges that Ramacciotti claims Prosser masterminded the entire plan, promising Ramacciotti he would “discover out a method for [Mr. Ramacciotti] to get cost.”
Prosser has denied any wrongdoing and says the main points of the go well with are incorrect. In public posts on X, Prosser has maintained that this was not how issues went down on his finish.
“The main points that Apple was given are simply not correct,” Prosser wrote to me through a direct message on X. “I had no data of how the information was obtained. He by no means advised me he ‘wanted cash’ and I completely didn’t instruct him to behave this out.”
Prosser doesn’t deny that he did reveal the data gleaned from Ramacciotti. He highlighted the main points concerning the unreleased replace in a sequence of movies earlier this yr, together with one during which he referred to as the information, “the most important iOS leak ever.”
Regardless of the query of how he really acquired the data, the aftermath has been messy. Ethan Lipnik, the Apple worker who had the event cellphone that Ramacciotti is alleged to have accessed, was fired by the corporate. Based on the criticism, Apple ended Lipnik’s employment “for failing to observe Apple’s insurance policies designed to guard its confidential info, together with growth gadgets and unreleased software program and options.”
Apple has not responded to requests for remark. Ethan Lipnik has additionally not responded to a request for remark.
“It is fairly a big lawsuit,” says Anshel Sag, principal analyst on the tech analysis agency Moor Insights & Technique, in an electronic mail. “However I additionally imagine that there’s fairly a disparity between what Prosser is saying and what Apple alleges, particularly because the worker appeared to not concentrate on what was occurring.”
The most important drawback being alleged right here, Sag says, is that whereas the info was taken from a growth machine that ought to have been higher protected, how that knowledge was acquired and the place it got here from ought to have been vetted earlier than the main points had been put out into the world.
“In the end, each firm fights leaks, particularly Apple, however with this taking place fully within the US the corporate has much more energy and legal guidelines to assist its efforts,” Sag says. Many Apple leaks have traditionally come from sources outdoors the US, akin to from inside its manufacturing and provide chain companions in Asia. As a result of the criticism focuses on occasions that allegedly passed off in California, Apple can argue in federal court docket that two US legal guidelines—the Defend Commerce Secrets and techniques Act and the Pc Fraud And Abuse Act—have been violated.
Prosser says he didn’t even discover out concerning the lawsuit till studying a MacRumors story concerning the submitting.
“I really feel terrible that Ethan was terminated over this,” Prosser says. “I want he had shared with Apple what had occurred, and I want that Apple would have linked with me for extra solutions—I’d have gladly chatted with them.”
