Apple says it's cracking down on leaks — but all the reports about the iPhone 8 show just how hard that will be
The crowd couldn't have been friendlier. Phil Schiller and Craig Federighi, Apple's heads of marketing and software engineering, respectively, were being interviewed by blogger and podcaster John Gruber, whose Daring Fireball blog has been a must-read for Apple enthusiasts for over a decade.
The two talked about the announcements that had been made the day before at WWDC, Apple's annual developer conference. They were revealing new details about Apple's products, and the crowd was loving it.
But at the very end of the interview, Gruber asked a question that wasn't about Apple's products — it was about Apple's corporate culture and its penchant for secrecy.
Gruber noted that leaks to the press seem to anger Apple. Schiller nodded, and said they did, adding that the company was putting in place a "double-down on secrecy."
The mood in the auditorium shifted.
"There's a lot of work that's gone on," Schiller said. "There are people on teams that work really hard at it, across every organization, how we manage secrecy, and with suppliers and partners.
"It's a really hard challenge, it's no question," Schiller continued, "and we may never be perfect at it, but the teams work hard at it."
Federighi and Schiller explained that one of the reasons that Apple places such a premium on secrecy is out of respect for its engineers who are developing new products.
Apple's engineers "get really angry when one of these [leaks] happens," Federighi said. "It’s just a huge disservice to the amount of work they put into it when it does."
"There were many topics covered yesterday that weren’t leaked, weren’t written up, weren’t with screenshots," Schiller added. "And to me, the first thing I think about is I’m so happy for those teams that they got that moments, that they can go home to their kids and say ‘this is what I worked on’ and you can see, and it’s fun."
That line got a huge round of applause from the audience in the nearly-sold out California Theatre.
The secrecy team
Secrecy is in Apple's DNA. Late CEO Steve Jobs famously insisted on it, and even current exec Jimmy Iovine calls the Apple "the most secretive company in the history of the planet."
The organization inside Apple that Schiller was referring to that's charged with preventing leaks is the New Product Introduction team in its Global Security group. That team is tasked with ferreting out leaks, whether they come from within Apple and from its manufacturing or other partners.
Apple has been bulking up its Global Security group. It recently posted a job listing for a "hardware secrecy specialist" to "track and distribute our most confidential prototypes."
It also posted a job opening for an investigator on the team. That job listing revealed some of what the Global Security group handles:
"The successful candidate will conduct investigations related to Apple's personnel, property, products and reputation. Such matters will include, but will not be limited to, cyber crimes; complex frauds against the Apple Online Store, iTunes, and Apple Retail stores; cargo thefts; thefts of intellectual property; leaks; threats; and internal investigations."
The job listing says that "experience as a prosecutor or law enforcement officer is a plus."
Indeed, Apple seems to be particularly focused on hiring people for its Global Security team that have law enforcement, military or security backgrounds.
The best look at Apple's Global Security team comes from a recording that was ironically leaked to William Turton of the Outline. According to the report that was based on the leaked recording, David Rice, Apple's Director of Global Security, is a former staffer for the National Security Agency and a Navy veteran. Other members of the team have worked at the FBI, for the Secret Service, and for the Department of State.
Apple's effort to quell leaks, particular those coming from factories in China, has been "trench warfare non-stop," Rice reportedly said on the leaked recording.
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