Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook has expressed concerns over crucial company information being leaked by insiders. The head of the tech giant, which is known to be extremely secretive about its product development, has come down heavily on those employees who help leak confidential information and said that they do not belong at Apple.
Ironically, Cook’s internal email to his employees warning against leaking company information was also promptly leaked.
Cook, in his email directed towards all the Apple employees, said that the company would do everything in its power to hunt down these disloyal employees and initiate action against them.
The email, which was leaked to the press and subsequently acquired by American technology blog, The Verge, read: “I’m writing today because I’ve heard from so many of you were incredibly frustrated to see the contents of the meeting leak to reporters. This comes after a product launch in which most of the details of our announcements were also leaked to the press. But they only work if we can trust that the content will stay within Apple. I want to reassure you that we are doing everything in our power to identify those who leaked. As you know, we do not tolerate disclosures of confidential information, whether it’s product IP or the details of a confidential meeting. We know that the leakers constitute a few people. We also know that people who leak confidential information do not belong here.”
According to The Verge, Tim Cook was infuriated because two announcements he made at an all-hands meeting last week about the company’s policy for unvaccinated employees — who will have to be tested for covid-19 on a regular basis — and the Epic v. Apple antitrust case were leaked to the media shortly afterwards the meeting took place on September 17.
Apple would not accept the exposure of confidential information, whether it was product IP or the contents of a confidential meeting, sternly wrote an enraged Cook to his employees.
It may be noted that in recent months, Apple Inc has been cracking down on employees who are believed of leaking crucial business information. The tech giant has sent legal notices to tipsters earlier in June. One of the ‘leakers’ who received a legal letter from the company was the noted tipster Kang. Apple had told Kang and others not to reveal information regarding undisclosed Apple projects. According to Kang, the letter stated that leaking information before an official announcement might provide important knowledge to Apple’s competitors and “mislead customers because what is disclosed may not be correct.”