“Against a backdrop of lost, unreleased devices and allegations that employees impersonated policemen, Apple forced the company’s chief of security into retirement, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. John Theriault, a former FBI agent who came to Apple from Pfizer in 2007, was the man in charge of Apple’s security unit during a span that saw the company embarrassed multiple times when important trade secrets were exposed,” Declan McCullagh and Greg Sandoval report for CNET.
“The most recent high-profile security goof occurred in July, when two of Apple’s investigators went searching for another missing unreleased handset. In August… CNET reported that Apple’s security personnel went to San Francisco police and told them that an employee had lost a ‘priceless’ unreleased phone, again in a bar, and that they had electronically tracked the device to a home in the city’s Bernal Heights neighborhood,” McCullagh and Sandoval report. “When plain-clothes officers and the Apple employees visited the home, Sergio Calderon, 22, acknowledged being at the bar the night it went missing but denied any knowledge of the device. David Monroe, Calderon’s attorney, told CNET that badges were flashed and Calderon was informed that if he didn’t voluntarily submit to a search of his home, car and computer, a search warrant would be obtained. Monroe said Calderon agreed to the search but wouldn’t have had he’d known it would be conducted by Apple employees.”
McCullagh and Sandoval report, “Monroe said last month that if he didn’t get answers from the police and Apple about the incident, he would file suit. Monroe said previously and repeated today that he and Apple are in negotiations. But forcing Theriault out now, with possible litigation hanging over Apple’s head, could be a risky move…”
Read more in the full article here.