Apple is none too pleased with seeing leaked iPhone source code on GitHub
Apple's legal team has been busy.
Less than 24 hours after Motherboard reported that a leaked version of some iPhone source code was posted to GitHub, the iBoot files in question have been pulled down and replaced with a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice.
At issue, explains a statement on behalf of Apple by law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, is the alleged "Reproduction of Apple's 'iBoot' source code, which is responsible for ensuring trusted boot operation of Apple's iOS software."
The files had allegedly been floating around the internet since 2016, but their landing on GitHub was apparently a step too far for the Cupertino-based behemoth.
"The 'iBoot' source code is proprietary and it includes Apple's copyright notice," reads the statement. "It is not open-source."
Importantly, this code is several years old so it's not exactly clear what impact, if any, this leak will have on iPhone users.
We reached out to the person who, under the username of ZioShiba, posted the source code to GitHub in the first place in an effort to determine his or her motives, but have not received a response as of press time.
Apple, on the other hand, definitely has some thoughts.
"Old source code from three years ago appears to have been leaked, but by design the security of our products doesn’t depend on the secrecy of our source code," the company said in a statement to Mashable. "There are many layers of hardware and software protections built into our products, and we always encourage customers to update to the newest software releases to benefit from the latest protections."
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Even though Apple appears to be playing it cool, it's safe to assume that the legal team it hired isn't too happy, and will do everything in its power to make sure this code is permanently wiped from Github.
Unfortunately for everyone in Cupertino, at the time of this writing what appears to be three copies of the code have already been uploaded to GitHub. So, yeah, once it's out there there's not really any going back.
This story has been updated to include comment from Apple, and a tweet from Will Strafach.
