Aug 19, 2021 12:41:00

It turns out that Apple used a double agent to prevent the leakage of internal information

Confidential information such as blueprints and prototypes is often leaked to new iPhones and iPads even before the announcement, and Apple has formed a specialized team to prevent the leak. It is reported that this specialized team obtained information about the source of the blueprints and prototypes from the double agent.

Apple's Double Agent

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3aqyz8/apples-double-agent

9to5Mac Writer Paid Source $ 500 in Bitcoin for Stolen Apple Data
https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7en78/9to5mac-writer-paid-source-dollar500-in-bitcoin-for-stolen-apple-data

Technology media Motherboard interviewed Andrey Schmeiko, who claims to have been acting as a double agent, to find out more about his activities.

Mr. Schmeiko said that he had obtained Apple's internal information through his own route and disclosed it to various places before starting activities as a double agent. On May 15, 2020, Mr. Schmeiko reported to Apple information about a Chinese hardware supplier that leaked detailed information on 'iOS 14' that had not been announced at the time. In response to this report, Apple's data breach team responded, 'Please tell me your Telegram and Signal contact information,' and asked Mr. Schmeiko to continue to provide information to Apple. Schmeiko responded to this request in the hope that he would be rewarded by Apple.

Since then, Schmeiko has provided information to Apple multiple times. According to another leaker in an interview with Motherboard, Schmeiko was appealing to her Twitter account that she had obtained Apple's private information while providing information, among the leaker community. It is said that it has gained a certain degree of trust. As a result, no leaker knew that Schmeiko was Apple's double agent until he was interviewed by Motherboard.

Schmeiko continued to provide information to Apple for several months, but Schmeiko didn't know how to use the information provided by Apple and couldn't get paid. So Schmeiko asked Apple, 'How useful is my information? Do I need to get more information?' 'Can I be protected as a whistleblower?' However, Apple just said, 'We are grateful to you. You are encouraged to share information,' but did not get an answer to the question.

In the summer of 2020, Schmeiko was offered to 'sell an internal account with access to Apple's internal email and network' by a German employee who worked for Apple's official map app. When Mr. Schmeiko provided this information to Apple, the employee was dismissed. 'Now that I've stopped providing information to Apple, I feel like I've ruined someone's life for no good reason,' said Schmeiko.

After that, Mr. Schmeiko provided his own 'information about self-driving cars under development by Apple' to Apple-related media 9to5Mac. Feeling regret for providing this information, Schmeiko sent a message of apology to Apple. In response, Apple said, 'If you plan to publish any information in the future, please contact us.' 'Our goal is to protect Apple. All our actions are companies and employees. It's based on the idea of what's best for our staff and users, so your information is very important, 'he said, asking Schmeiko to refrain from providing information to the outside world.

It is said that Apple's contact with Mr. Schmeiko was finally cut off on July 15, 2021. Mr. Schmeiko is facing financial problems, and the screenshots taken by Motherboard show that Mr. Schmeiko was trying to sell Apple's data.

In addition, in 2018, before starting activities as a double agent, Mr. Schmeiko was unreleased `` iPad Pro '' in exchange for Bitcoin equivalent to 500 dollars (about 55,000 yen) at the rate at that time for 9to5Mac It has been revealed that it provided information about , and 9to5Mac has been criticized as 'reporting leak information obtained in exchange for money is against journalism.'

9to5Mac founder Seth Weintraub told Motherboard, 'We don't pay for information sources,' and at the time of writing, it was written based on Schmeiko's leak information. The article has been deleted as 'violating policy'.