A new report sheds some light on the recent debacle regarding Apple's source code for the iOS which was recently posted on GitHub.
Investigations revealed that it was allegedly stolen by a former intern, which was then distributed among a small circle of five individuals. The people involved were members of an iOS jailbreaking community that took advantage of the code to work around the software's security measures. Based on the statement issued by one of those members, the intern stole more than just the original source code.
Nothing Serious According To Apple
The company confirmed that the stolen code was a three-year-old iBoot code intended for iOS 9. Yet, it claimed that it does not pose a security risk for Apple users. According to a statement released by the company that particular operating system version has long been replaced by iOS 11.
It seems like the Cupertino-based consumer electronics firm is confident that its public availability should not be a cause for concern. However, most experts agree that Apple should reconsider its security protocol given that a low-level intern was able to steal confidential information easily.
More Than What Was Shared
Some of the original members who received the stolen source code claim that it was not done out of malicious intent. The intern was supposedly goaded by his friends to do it for the sake of the jailbreaking community. It first surfaced in 2016 but did not become widely available until 2017. Eventually, it ended up on GitHub sometime this week.
"The Apple internal community is really full of curious kids and teens. I knew one day that if those kids got it they'd be dumb enough to push it to GitHub," according to a member of the original group.
Moreover, it seems like there was more stuff included in the digital theft other than the iBoot source code. There were several internal tools used by the company that was compromised by the intern's exploits.
"I personally never wanted that code to see the light of day. Not out of greed but because of fear of the legal firestorm that would ensue," one member added.
Apple Takes Action
An internal source from Apple confirmed that the company already knew about the leak before the source code made it to GitHub. It already made its rounds among the jailbreaking community since last year. Now that the issue spiraled out of control and has become public knowledge, the company's legal team ordered the website to remove the code.
