Ex-Apple Employee Stole Secrets for Chinese Firm, U.S. Says

I’m sad at myself for feeling “well yeah not unexpected” after having worked at DENSO HQ (Toyota group supplier) where a Chinese natiuonal engineer stole 30,000 design documents in the early 2000s (it made national headlines when it happened). Because it’s only 1/1000000 people that do this that will cause prejudice and disdain for all the good actors.

Re: Ex-Apple Employee Stole Secrets for Chinese Firm, U.S. Says

#5

Post by sam0x17 » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 12:47 AM UTC

Sort of dumb that he told Apple about his intentions to switch jobs. He would have easily gotten away if he hadn't. Guilty conscience?

Re: Ex-Apple Employee Stole Secrets for Chinese Firm, U.S. Says

#6

Post by blahblahblogger » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 12:49 AM UTC

hkmurakami wrote: post #4

I’m sad at myself for feeling “well yeah not unexpected” after having worked at DENSO HQ (Toyota group supplier) where a Chinese natiuonal engineer stole 30,000 design documents in the early 2000s (it made national headlines when it happened). Because it’s only 1/1000000 people that do this that will cause prejudice and disdain for all the good actors.

> I’m sad at myself for feeling “well yeah not unexpected” > Because it’s only 1/1000000 people that do this that will cause prejudice and disdain for all the good actors.

Damn I came in here to say the same thing and feel sad at myself now too.

So not to be racial but from an American standpoint I liken it to hiring an American who happens to be Chinese versus an engineer from China.

For the first, they are American, their family is here, their life is here - where would they flee to?

For the latter, they're here temporarily most likely. So why not take the risk and get a big reward?

Re: Ex-Apple Employee Stole Secrets for Chinese Firm, U.S. Says

#7

Post by mjcl » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 12:50 AM UTC

sam0x17 wrote: post #5

Sort of dumb that he told Apple about his intentions to switch jobs. He would have easily gotten away if he hadn't. Guilty conscience?

I’m sort of surprised they don’t have automated flagging for activity like downloading a years worth of documents in an evening.

Re: Ex-Apple Employee Stole Secrets for Chinese Firm, U.S. Says

#8

Post by tptacek » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 12:53 AM UTC

mjcl wrote: post #7

sam0x17 wrote: post #5

Sort of dumb that he told Apple about his intentions to switch jobs. He would have easily gotten away if he hadn't. Guilty conscience?

I’m sort of surprised they don’t have automated flagging for activity like downloading a years worth of documents in an evening.

Benign instances of that happen all the time. Picking out actionable anomalies from event data like this is one of the big problems in information security.

Re: Ex-Apple Employee Stole Secrets for Chinese Firm, U.S. Says

#9

Post by rockinghigh » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 12:53 AM UTC

mjcl wrote: post #7

sam0x17 wrote: post #5

Sort of dumb that he told Apple about his intentions to switch jobs. He would have easily gotten away if he hadn't. Guilty conscience?

I’m sort of surprised they don’t have automated flagging for activity like downloading a years worth of documents in an evening.

They do, according to the article:

“Apple grew more suspicious after seeing his increased network activity and visits to the office before he resigned, according to the complaint.”

Re: Ex-Apple Employee Stole Secrets for Chinese Firm, U.S. Says

#10

Post by batteryhorse » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 12:55 AM UTC

sam0x17 wrote: post #5

Sort of dumb that he told Apple about his intentions to switch jobs. He would have easily gotten away if he hadn't. Guilty conscience?

Yes, poor judgement. I also think it's sort of dumb to steal self driving "tech" from Apple. Might as well steal Uber's self driving "tech" as well.