Recently, the authorities of the USA have accused a former employee of the tech giant Apple for the theft of commercial secrets of the company. He is accused of downloading plans related to an autonomous car and a laptop before attempting to leave the country and go to China, according to the complaint filed in federal court.
This Apple Employee Stole Company Secrets For Chinese Firm
Authorities of the USA have accused this past Monday to a former employee of the tech giant Apple for the theft of commercial secrets. He is accused of downloading plans related to an autonomous car and a laptop before attempting to leave the country and go to China, according to the complaint filed in federal court.
The employee has been identified as Xiaolang Zhang and, according to the complaint, had made public his intention to work for a Chinese autonomous driving company and had bought the last minute flight to China after downloading the plans on the circuitry related to an autonomous car from Apple.
Zhang was arrested on July 7 at the San Jose airport (in San Francisco) after passing security control. “We work with the authorities in this matter and we will do everything possible so that this individual and any other related party are condemned for their actions,” Apple said in an official statement.
According to the complaint, Zhang entered Apple to develop hardware and software related to a self-driving vehicle. That’s how he designed and tested circuit boards to analyze sensors.
In April 2019, Zhang was discharged as a paternity after the birth of a son and traveled to China with his family, all this according to the text of the complaint; and when he returned, he warned his supervisor that he intended to sue to move back to China and work for Xiaopeng Motors, an electric and smart car company with offices in Silicon Valley.
After leaving his post, this supervisor notified the tech giant Apple’s security officers, who discovered that he had searched extensively in several secret databases and had been on Apple’s campus on April 28, when he was supposedly on paternity leave. That was when he took a computer and several circuit boards from a laboratory, according to the complaint.
Also read: Apple Launches 2019 MacBook Pros: 8th Gen Core, 32GB Of RAM, Third-Gen Keyboard
XMotors, subsidiary of Xiaopeng Motors for which Zhang was working after leaving the tech giant Apple, has been “very concerned” and says that “there was no indicator pointing to Zhang had taken sensitive information from Apple to XMotors.” The company has also communicated the immediate dismissal of the defendant.
So, what do you think about this? Simply share all your views and thoughts in the comment section below.
