Apple Hardens Monitoring To Curb iPhone Leaks

Apple recently initiated legal action against a former senior manager for allegedly betraying internal company matters. Now the production side is stepping up and new guidelines are being introduced to prevent “leaks”.

According to the portal The Information, Apple has issued new guidelines for its manufacturing partners, with which one wants to avoid that their employees reveal information about products of the US computer company to the public.

With its new specifications, Apple is, among other things, requiring contract manufacturers and suppliers such as Foxconn and Pegatron to check all employees for a possible criminal past before they are hired. In addition, the number of surveillance cameras in the factories of the contract manufacturers is to be increased.

Parts are precisely timed in production

In addition, Apple is trying to make another change to ensure that no “leaks” occur during production. The aim is to improve the tracking of certain parts and components in order to trigger an internal safety warning in the event of delays.

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By tracking how long a component is allowed to stay at a specific station in the manufacturing process, the aim is apparently to ensure that there is no time in which the supplier employees can write down information or take photos of unpublished products. Theft should also be prevented in this way.

Scrapping of defective parts is observed even more closely

Apple’s new requirements also stipulate that security personnel in the factories keep a detailed record of how employees move certain important parts from one place to another. Apple also requires contract manufacturers to keep videos documenting the destruction of prototypes and defective components for at least 180 days.

The employees of the factories of the contract manufacturers must also identify themselves with their identity cards when they come to work. Since the source of the information comes from the Indian locations of the Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron, it can be assumed that the new requirements are also about eliminating any irregularities in the company.

In India, Wistron struggled with the fact that wages for various employees were not paid on time. In addition, there were several reports of highly questionable activities by some high-ranking employees of the suppliers who had sold components that were actually written off as defects and therefore intended for destruction to third parties, who in turn put them into circulation as original spare parts.