Leaks are a fixed a part of massive product information cycles, notably for corporations 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 right typically sufficient to develop into an actual ache for the Cupertino firm.
Now, Apple has seized upon a possibility to combat again towards leaks. In a criticism filed Thursday in US federal court docket for the Northern District of California, Apple is accusing outstanding leaker Jon Prosser of allegedly scheming to “break into an Apple improvement iPhone, steal Apple’s commerce secrets and techniques, and revenue from the theft.”
The swimsuit 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 operating the as-of-yet unreleased software program that will develop into iOS 26. The swimsuit 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 telephone and exhibiting particulars of the unreleased software program to Prosser over a video name. Prosser then allegedly used data 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 swimsuit additionally alleges that Ramacciotti claims Prosser masterminded the entire plan, promising Ramacciotti he would “discover out a approach for [Mr. Ramacciotti] to get fee.”
Prosser has denied any wrongdoing and says the main points of the swimsuit are incorrect. In public posts on X, Prosser has maintained that this was not how issues went down on his finish.
“The small print that Apple was given are simply not correct,” Prosser wrote to me by way of a direct message on X. “I had no data of how the data was obtained. He by no means informed 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 in regards to the unreleased replace in a sequence of movies earlier this 12 months, together with one wherein he known as the information, “the largest 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 telephone that Ramacciotti is alleged to have accessed, was fired by the corporate. In accordance with the criticism, Apple ended Lipnik’s employment “for failing to comply with Apple’s insurance policies designed to guard its confidential data, together with improvement 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 for the reason that worker appeared to not pay attention to what was happening.”
The most important downside being alleged right here, Sag says, is that whereas the information was taken from a improvement gadget 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 solely within the US the corporate has much more energy and legal guidelines to help its efforts,” Sag says. Many Apple leaks have traditionally come from sources exterior the US, similar to from inside its manufacturing and provide chain companions in Asia. As a result of the criticism focuses on occasions that allegedly came about in California, Apple can argue in federal court docket that two US legal guidelines—the Defend Commerce Secrets and techniques Act and the Laptop Fraud And Abuse Act—have been violated.
Prosser says he didn’t even discover out in regards to the lawsuit till studying a MacRumors story in regards to 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 might have gladly chatted with them.”
