iOS source code was leaked by an intern, claims a report, more details about the leak, how it got to GitHub, response by Apple and other details on iGyaan Network
A few days ago, a part of the iOS source code was posted online. It has now been revealed that apparently, it was an ex-Apple intern that leaked the source code.
According to a report, the intern stole the code to help out his group of friends in the iOS jailbreaking community. He did that in order to help them with their ongoing efforts to find a way around Apple’s locked down iOS. According to one of his friend, he took “all sorts of Apple internal tools and whatnot.” This included additional source code that was not included in the initial leak.
The report claims that the initial plan was to make sure the source code never left the group of five friends. However, that did not hold up for too long as the code spread beyond the original group sometime last year. Eventually, the source code made its way to Reddit but, apparently, the post was initially deleted by a moderation bot automatically.
That is not where the circulation of the source code and eventually made its way to GitHub this week. Since then, Apple has ordered GitHub to remove the code. According to a source at Apple, the company already knew about the leak. This does make sense since the source code was generously circulated in the jailbreaking community. Someone from Apple was bound to come across this source code just roaming about on the internet.
The leak of the source code was considered to be a security concern in the beginning. The leak could allow hackers to discover iOS vulnerabilities more easily and make creating iPhone jailbreaks simpler. At the time, Apple’s lawyers described the leak as a “reproduction of Apple’s ‘iBoot’ source code, which is responsible for ensuring trusted boot operation of Apple’s iOS software.”
Since then, Apple has seem unfazed about the potential security issues. Apple claims that the code is already three years old and that the security of its products doesn’t depend on the secrecy of their source code.
