Apple has sued the well-known leaker Jon Prosser for the alleged theft of commerce secrets and techniques associated to iOS 26. Prosser has been accused of tasking one other man, Michael Ramacciotti, with secretly accessing an Apple worker’s growth iPhone and utilizing that data to report on Apple’s deliberate adjustments within the then-unannounced iOS 26.
In response to the lawsuit, Apple claims that Prosser provided Ramacciotti “cash or a future job alternative” in trade for entry to an organization cellphone belonging to his pal Ethan Lipnik, an Apple software program engineer engaged on iOS. Ramacciotti allegedly learnt Lipnik’s iPhone passcode, used “location-tracking” to find out when he’d be away from house for an prolonged interval, after which accessed the iPhone working a growth model of the cellular OS. Apple says that Ramacciotti confirmed the software program to Prosser over a video name, which Prosser recorded, shared with others, and used to create renders of the brand new designs.
Apple says it discovered the main points of what occurred in April from an nameless e mail from somebody who claimed to have seen Prosser’s recording of the decision and acknowledged Lipnik’s residence. The corporate additionally claims to have a voice be aware despatched by Ramacciotti to Lipnik, apologizing for the incident and claiming that the subterfuge was Prosser’s concept, which Lipnik in flip supplied to Apple. Lipnik was fired by Apple for failing to correctly observe its insurance policies round securing unreleased software program.
Prosser has responded to the lawsuit on X, insisting that Apple’s account is “not how the scenario performed out on my finish,” and claiming to have proof to that impact. “I didn’t ‘plot’ to entry anybody’s cellphone. I didn’t have any passwords. I used to be unaware of how the data was obtained.”
In its authorized submitting, Apple asks for each damages and a court docket order stopping Prosser from disclosing Apple’s commerce secrets and techniques once more. The corporate provides that whereas iOS 26 has since been introduced to the general public, its secrets and techniques are nonetheless in danger as a result of the event cellphone “contained different unannounced design components.”