The Silicon Review ^Asia

12 of Apple Inc’s employees were arrested over the course of a year for leaking highly confidential internal information. Leaks included information regarding Apple’s future software plans, according to a memo, which also was leaked.

According to the memo, Apple originally was able to catch 29 of its employee’s red-handed last year, out of which 12 were arrested. The 29 figure includes direct employees, contractors and supply chain partners. Apple was quoted “Leakers do not simply lose their jobs at Apple. In some cases, they face jail time and massive fines for network intrusion and theft of trade secrets, both classified as federal crimes.”

The agenda of the memo is to send a strong message out to all the employees that leaking is taken as a very serious offense by the company and expects its employees to take this as a serious warning. “While it may seem flattering to be approached, it’s important to remember that you’re getting played,” it stated

In early 2018, Apple caught an employee who leaked information about an internal meeting where the Senior VP had informed the employees about a delay in certain features of the iOS.

Apple has made sure that the employees who have been fired find it difficult to be hired elsewhere. All these actions by Apple will make anybody think twice before they decide to leak something in the coming days.