According to a recent Motherboard report, an Apple “double agent” spent more than a year inside the iPhone leaks and jailbreak community while also collecting information about other leakers and providing it to the company.
Andrey Shumeyko, also known online as “YRH04E,” advertised internal Apple data and stolen devices for sale on sites like Discord and Twitter. While other leakers in the community were unaware of his secret, Shumeyko served as a “double agent” and gave Apple’s Global Security team confidential information that helped them track down leaks and those responsible.
Shumeyko says he developed a connection with Apple’s Global Security team after informing them of a potential phishing effort targeting Apple Store personnel in 2017. Then, in the mid-2020s, he attempted to assist Apple in investigating one of its biggest leaks in recent memory, becoming a “mole,” as he described it.
The mid-2020 leak refers to when a pre-release version of iOS 14 was released online. Shumeyko gave Apple information about an individual who reportedly helped “orchestrate” the leak by purchasing a stolen iPhone 11. The stolen prototype smartphone was loaded with an early development build of iOS 14 meant for internal usage by Apple workers, before iOS 14’s official unveiling at WWDC 2020.
Further, Shumeyko notified Apple in the summer of 2020 that he had been in communication with an Apple employee in Germany who worked on Apple Maps. The employee reportedly offered to sell access to an internal Apple account, which was used to view business emails and other internal documents on Apple’s intraweb. Shumeyko stated that he maintained contact with the employee and later discovered that he had been fired.
So why did Shumeyko come clean about his role as Apple’s mole? Initially, he expected to be recognized for providing intel to Apple and expected financial incentive for his contribution. Shumeyko claims he frequently asked Apple if he could be compensated for his intel. Still, Apple was seemingly uninterested, and he is now coming out after feeling that he was taken advantage of.
Source: Vice
