Apple’s secret ‘double agent’ spent years inside the iPhone leaks and jailbreak community. He was also spying for Apple.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai for Vice’s Motherboard:
For more than a year, an active member of a community that traded in illicitly obtained internal Apple documents and devices was also acting as an informant for the company.
On Twitter and in Discord channels for the loosely defined Apple “internal” community that trades leaked information and stolen prototypes, he advertised leaked apps, manuals, and stolen devices for sale. But unbeknownst to other members in the community, he shared with Apple personal information of people who sold stolen iPhone prototypes from China, Apple employees who leaked information online, journalists who had relationships with leakers and sellers, and anything that he thought the company would find interesting and worth investigating.
Andrey Shumeyko, also known as YRH04E and JVHResearch online, decided to share his story because he felt that Apple took advantage of him and should have compensated him for providing the company this information… Shumeyko said he was hoping that by helping Apple, the company would help him in return. But that, he said, never happened. And he’s now questioning whether he should have helped in the first place…
Shumeyko told Motherboard that he is still struggling financially. He is also still on Twitter trying to sell Apple data in an attempt to finally cash out on years of being involved in Apple leaks.
MacDailyNews Take: Why would Apple pay for something when it’s being given for free? This poor “double agent” needed an agent.