Former Apple employee who stole Apple Car secrets goes to prison

Xiaolang Zhangone of the engineers who worked on the Apple Car project was sentenced to prison for stealing classified information. The district court ordered the defendant to serve 120 days in jail. The decision ends a lawsuit that began in 2018 when Zhang was detained at the airport in San Jose, California.

According to a legal document published 9to5Macformer Apple employee will pass four months in a maximum security prisonfollowed by a 3-year probationary period. In addition, the accused must pay $146,984 in restitution. The sentence was better than expected for Zhang, who faced up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The problems began in mid-2018, when the former Apple engineer took maternity leave and went to China. Xiaolang Zhang He worked at Project Titan, a division developing autonomous driving systems.. Upon his return, Zhang met with his management and announced that he was leaving the company because he had another job offer.

Xiaolang Zhang He put the noose around his neck, saying he would go to Xpeng Motors., an electric vehicle maker funded by Alibaba and Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi. His evasive behavior during the meeting aroused suspicion, so Cupertino launched an investigation. After analyzing its devices, Apple’s security team discovered that Zhang downloaded and copied secret documents.

The FBI accused a former employee of stealing trade secrets and detained him at a California airport minutes before boarding a flight to China.

What is Xiaolan Zhang, a former Apple Car engineer, accused of?

Xiaolang Zhang worked for Project Titan for three years. During this time, he developed and tested boards that analyzed data from vehicle sensors.

Before his resignation, Zhang uploaded confidential information about the prototype, including 25-page document with circuit board diagrams for an autonomous vehicle. Apple’s security team has discovered an unusual spike in the data network of its devices, as well as evidence that stole a box of equipment from the premises.

Although Zhang pleaded not guilty in court in 2018, he later admitted to the charges as part of a deal with the FBI. A former employee admitted that copied more than 40 GB of data to your partner’s computer, which included prototypes, battery system, voltage requirements, and suspension mounts. This prevented him from receiving a longer sentence, although he will have to repay Apple nearly $150,000 after serving his sentence.

Zhang He’s not the only one accused of stealing information from an Apple Car. A few months after the arrest it became known that Jizhong Chen, another employee of Apple’s secretive division, stole information a few weeks after he started work. Unlike the first, Chen would have signed the contract with Cupertino with the firm intention of obtaining trade secrets.

Some colleagues found that the accused took photos of the work area. After the events, Apple’s security team discovered thousands of files containing confidential information on his computer, as well as screenshots and photos of diagrams and manuals. Chen intended to travel to China to register with a self-driving car company, but the FBI detained him the day before he left the country.