Apple searching for product security managers after 2nd lost iPhone prototype

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
After losing its second iPhone prototype in two years, Apple has posted a pair of job openings for Managers for New Product Security to help safeguard the company's unreleased products and related intellectual property.



Apple listed the two identical job descriptions, first discovered by PC Mag, late last week, shortly after the news broke that the company was searching for a lost prototype of the fifth-generation iPhone. Though it's possible that the recently lost iPhone may be unrelated to Apple's search for security managers, high-profile incidents both last year and this year do appear to indicate a lapse in its usually tight secrecy that the company is working to rectify.



The Cupertino, Calif., company is searching two managers responsible "for overseeing the protection of, and managing risks to, Apple?s unreleased products and related intellectual property." The positions are based at its headquarters and will require as much as 30 percent travel both domestic and abroad.



Candidates are expected to have a proven record of "accurately assessing physical and logical security implementations" and making risk management recommendations while considering impact on "corporate culture, business operations, system architectures, manufacturing processes, and employee workflows." They are also expected to have had success implementing a "variety of security technologies." The New Product Security Manager will also work to mitigate risks associated with the company's "multi-tiered electronics supply chain."



Apple also expects the candidate to hold an advanced degree in risk or security management, as well as protection professional certification. The posting also lists more than five years of security assessment as a requirement for the position.



Two of Apple's security officials made headlines last week after reports emerged that they had accompanied police officers to the San Francisco residence of a man suspected of being in possession of the lost iPhone 5 prototype. The device is said to have been left at a bar in the Mission district of San Francisco in July before being quickly tracked by Apple to a Bernal Heights house.



Though there was some initial confusion as to whether the police joined in the investigation, the San Francisco Police Department has since stated that "three or four" of its officers accompanied Apple's security officials, but did not enter the house. One of the security officials reportedly served as a San Jose Police sergeant before joining Apple as a "senior investigator."



"Apple came to us saying that they were looking for a lost item, and some plainclothes officers responded out to the house with them," SFPD spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield said. "My understanding is that they stood outside...They just assisted Apple to the address."



Last year, an Apple engineer reportedly left a test iPhone 4 unit in a Redwood City, Calif., bar, where it was found and eventually sold to a publication. Two individuals have been charged with "misappropriation of lost property" in connection with the incident.



According to recently leaked Wikileaks diplomatic cables, Apple's security officials have also struggled to protect Apple's brand and products in Asia, where millions of counterfeit iPods, iPhones and accessories are produced every year. An Apple security team director was noted as telling U.S. embassy officials that he was "afraid" of his company's inexperience with the situation.



Earlier this year, millions of dollars of convincing counterfeit products, including fake iPhones and iPods (pictured below), were confiscated in Los Angeles. Apple also recently executed a warrant for a raid against a New York store allegedly selling counterfeit Apple accessories as part of an ongoing lawsuit against a number of parties.



Source: L.A. Times

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 27
    Or you could just buy some rope...



    Tie the darn things to the field testers arms.
  • Reply 2 of 27
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Jeez... only give the prototypes to people who have been with the company a few years and can be trusted. And are non-ditzy. You don't need a dedicated gestapo.
  • Reply 3 of 27
    blursdblursd Posts: 123member
    Or ... or ... Apple could hire more responsible and non-scatterbrained engineers to field test their prototypes.



    Weren't both iPhone prototypes lost in bars ...? Maybe there's something to learn from that. Alcohol doesn't usually increase one's responsibility ...
  • Reply 4 of 27
    That's what I don't understand... I have had 2 iPhones over the course of 3 and a bit years.



    Have been with me in my travels everyday of owning one.



    I have never once lost my iphone or forgotten about it when leaving home, or anywhere to be honest. I am a consumer and have no reason to be so overprotective of my iPhone apart for my love of it.



    I cant understand how 'you' - Apple and the individual employee, could lose a prototype iPhone, knowing the magnitude of risks involved.



    It's totally baffling.
  • Reply 5 of 27
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Uelogy View Post


    It's totally baffling.



    Jaegermeister. Never underestimate its power.
  • Reply 6 of 27
    kreshkresh Posts: 379member
    The position has some definite perks, like company issued footwear:



  • Reply 7 of 27
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    Jaegermeister. Never underestimate its power.



    It's a basic liqueur and medicinal. It must be the German/Welsh in me because I never got drunk off it or Goldschlager. Then again I'm a Booker's Bourbon/Baker's/Nob Creek straight jigger drinker when I want a solid drink.



    I do recall several colleagues who couldn't hold their Merlot at company functions down in Cupertino. That would be an immediate elimination if I were assessing who gets to test the systems.
  • Reply 8 of 27
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    It's a basic liqueur and medicinal. It must be the German/Welsh in me because I never got drunk off it or Goldschlager. Then again I'm a Booker's Bourbon/Baker's/Nob Creek straight jigger drinker when I want a solid drink.



    I do recall several colleagues who couldn't hold their Merlot at company functions down in Cupertino. That would be an immediate elimination if I were assessing who gets to test the systems.



    I'd like a cut of your jib. Rather than implement an AA program at Apple HQ they should instead have rigorous alcohol-tolerance testing to determine who gets to carry prototypes around.
  • Reply 9 of 27
    conradjoeconradjoe Posts: 1,887member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post




    After losing its second iPhone prototype in two years, Apple has posted a pair of job openings for Managers for New Product Security to help safeguard the company's unreleased products and related intellectual property.




    In other news, Apple closes the barn door after the horses have escaped...
  • Reply 10 of 27
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,736member
    So where is this lost prototype? It must be a redesIgned iPhone 4 or it would on some site somewhere. Maybe no one recognizes it.
  • Reply 11 of 27
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Eriamjh View Post


    So where is this lost prototype? It must be a redesIgned iPhone 4 or it would on some site somewhere. Maybe no one recognizes it.



    Winging it's way to Samsung
  • Reply 12 of 27
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    I question the disappearance of a product that hasn't appeared in one photo on the internet, yet. Perhaps this is merely part of some cleverly orchestrated hype machine?
  • Reply 13 of 27
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    I question the disappearance of a product that hasn't appeared in one photo on the internet, yet. Perhaps this is merely part of some cleverly orchestrated hype machine?



    Seems pretty low-brow for an Apple promo. Also it would get them into a lot of trouble for wasting police resource.
  • Reply 14 of 27
    How about a "Prototypes only go to teetotalers" rule?
  • Reply 15 of 27
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member
    deleted
  • Reply 16 of 27
    1. The story of this job posting was on a dozen other sites 4 days ago



    2. If you look at the job listing you can see that it has nothing to do with prototypes at all and is about a higher level of security like leaks from suppliers



    3. SF Weekly is now on record saying that they have investigated further and believe that parts if not the entire story is bogus and was a set up by the bar name dropped (with menu details even) but 'the source' as a publicity stunt. Which makes sense cause there are things in the story like the time delay that don't add up if this was an actual prototype





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Uelogy View Post


    I cant understand how 'you' - Apple and the individual employee, could lose a prototype iPhone, knowing the magnitude of risks involved.



    It's a chance they have to take to have an actual real world field test. That said, there is talk that in fact Hogan stole the phone (looking for a free iPhone not a prototype) out of the guys jacket. And as I just mentioned there is talk by one of the major news sources that this 2nd story is total BS
  • Reply 17 of 27
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tulkas View Post


    Seems pretty low-brow for an Apple promo. Also it would get them into a lot of trouble for wasting police resource.



    Yup..
  • Reply 18 of 27
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    1. The story of this job posting was on a dozen other sites 4 days ago



    2. If you look at the job listing you can see that it has nothing to do with prototypes at all and is about a higher level of security like leaks from suppliers



    3. SF Weekly is now on record saying that they have investigated further and believe that parts if not the entire story is bogus and was a set up by the bar name dropped (with menu details even) but 'the source' as a publicity stunt. Which makes sense cause there are things in the story like the time delay that don't add up if this was an actual prototype



    Man, please stop posting item #3. The SFPD have confirmed they were there and that Apple requested their assistance. That was confirmed like a day after the story broke.
  • Reply 19 of 27
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member
    deleted
  • Reply 20 of 27
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacRulez View Post


    I missed that.



    The most recent article at SF Weekly I could find confirms police participation:

    http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/...ple_police.php



    URL?



    He seems to be referring to articles written before the police confirmed they were there. During that single day, after the story broke, when the police could find no record of being involved, the speculation was that it was a hoax. As soon as the police confirmed they were there no one had any reason to believe it was made up by the bar owners, but for some reason people are still posting that theory.
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