“Apple is used to fighting leaks about its upcoming products and OS releases, but it’s never had to deal with anything like this before,” Michael Simon reports for Macworld. “An anonymous user on the popular code-sharing server GitHub has posted a major component of the iOS source code for all to see, and some experts are fearing it could be ‘the biggest leak in history.'”
“As first reported by Motherboard, the leaked code has since been pulled off the site but not before countless people were surely able to get their hands on it,” Simon reports. “Apple was forced to use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to get the code taken down, and as UW research scientist Karl Koscher mused on Twitter, the law essentially force Apple to admit that the code was real or else face perjury charges.”
“For the average user, there probably isn’t much to fear, at least not yet. To attack your phone using anything discovered in the iBoot leak, a hacker would likely need physical access to your phone and a bit of time to install a new OS on it,” Simon reports. “However, it does mean that hackers will be hard at work to find exploits in the code, as well as designers looking to emulate the iOS system.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: In what is becoming all too routine, here’s yet another major embarrassment for Apple.
SEE ALSO:
Key iPhone source code gets posted online in ‘biggest leak in history’ – February 8, 2018
Apple’s iOS 12 could finally fix systemic frame rate issues and interface inconsistencies – January 30, 2018
Apple delays planned 2018 iOS features to focus on reliability, performance – January 30, 2018
Why Apple desperately needs a new Steve Jobs – January 29, 2018
At Tim Cook’s Apple, Steve Jobs is long gone, and so is the ‘it just works’ ethos – December 19, 2017
The Washington Post: ‘Why doesn’t Apple make its devices as carefully as it’s making Apple Park?’ – December 11, 2017
Apple Park estimated to cost upwards of $5 billion to build – December 9, 2017
What to do about Apple’s shameful Mac security flaw in macOS High Sierra – November 29, 2017
Apple started working on HomePod in 2012, so why are they so late to the smart speaker market? – November 21, 2017
Why Apple’s HomePod is three years behind Amazon’s Echo – November 21, 2017
Under ‘operations genius’ Tim Cook, product delays and other problems are no longer unusual for Apple – November 20, 2017
Apple delays HomePod release to early 2018 – November 17, 2017
Apple CEO Tim Cook: The ‘operations genius’ who never has enough products to sell at launch – October 23, 2017
Apple’s Mac Pro debacle: Failure and future – May 8, 2017
Why is Apple’s next-gen Mac Pro taking so long? – April 18, 2017
Apple’s desperate Mac Pro damage control message hints at a confused, divided company – April 6, 2017
Who has taken over at Apple? – April 5, 2017
Apple’s embarrassing Mac Pro mea culpa – April 4, 2017
Who’s going to buy a Mac Pro now? – April 4, 2017
Mac Pro: Why did it take Apple so long to wake up? – April 4, 2017
Apple sorry for what happened with the Mac Pro over the last 3+ years – namely, nothing – April 4, 2017
AirPods: MIA for the holidays; delayed product damages Apple’s credibility, stokes customer frustration – December 9, 2016
Lazy Apple. It’s not hard to imagine Steve Jobs asking, ‘What have you been doing for the last four years?’ – December 9, 2016
Apple is misplaying the hand Steve Jobs left them – November 30, 2016
Apple delays AirPod rollout – October 26, 2016
Apple delays release of watchOS 2 due to bug – September 16, 2015
Apple delays HomeKit launch until autumn – May 14, 2015
Open letter to Tim Cook: Apple needs to do better – January 5, 2015
Apple delays production of 12.9-inch ‘iPad Pro’ in face of overwhelming iPhone 6/Plus demand – October 9, 2014
Tim Cook’s mea culpa: iMac launch should have been postponed – April 24, 2013
MDN take right on, again. I’ve even thought of….NO, brain, don’t even think it (Samsung? Samsung Pay?)!!
An “embarrassment” of course, but b/c of irresponsibility, or laxness? How could any company prevent this sort of leak? Does this necessarily mean a “re-write” of broad pieces of the software? A bitter worker, or more subversive?
Maybe you should kick them in the nuts!
(And what does Samsung have to do with this?)
If I understand this correctly the leak wouldn’t have to come from inside Apple. “It’s so sensitive, in fact, that Apple shells out up to $200,000 to developers who find vulnerabilities, according to reports on the invitation-only program.”
I read that all code used to be shared in home brew clubs until Microsoft (I think) demanded that it be given IP status. Perhaps this is a sharing by White Hat part of the Deep State combating a Black Hat part of the Deep State. We’ll see if Q gives us a hint about how it may fit into the draining of the swamp which seems to be occurring steadily.
Now there is lots & lots of incentive for Apple to redesign their boot code to the most advanced code ever produced along with obfuscation & other methods to keep it secure.
Yeah, that doesn’t stop a rogue programmer from copying code, but then again, maybe they put tags on all code that are randomly inserted in unnoticeable ways to track code that is copied by a particular user.
Apple is certainly inventive and I suspect will become stronger because of this leak.
Yes, could be a sting.
Yea, but what about that speaker!
(whistling past the graveyard)
Of course its the biggest leak.
It is tue biggest company.