Allegation of Apple’s iCloud operating company in China stealing personal information raises concerns

蘋果在中國的iCloud運營公司被指控竊取用戶個資引起了人們擔憂

A Twitter user’s allegation that a tech advisor at Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co (GCBD), which operate Apple Inc’s first data center in China, stole his personal messages and tried to extort money from him has raised concerns


TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—A Twitter user’s allegation that a tech adviser at Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co (GCBD), which operate Apple Inc’s first data center in China, stole his personal messages and tried to extort money from him has raised concerns and sparked public discussion, according to a report published by www.bannedbook.org on Friday.

Apple began to work with GCBD on February 28 in order to provide it’s iCloud remote storage service to local customers in compliance with Chinese Cybersecurity regulations, which require foreign companies that handle Chinese data to store that information on equipment physically located within the country.

The Twitter user post a Tweet on March 5, saying that the information stealing and extortion were committed by the tech advisor on the first day of the tech giant's providing the iCloud service in China, according to the report.

The user said he called Apple’s customer service hotline to inquire about iCloud and related matters; however, the tech advisor on the phone was evading his questions, which eventually led to a quarrel, the report said.

The technician called the user back that night and said the user's personal messages and information in iCloud had been copied, threatening to bring inconvenience to the user’s life and work if he uses Apple devices in the future, according to the report.

On March 6, the Twitter user posted another Tweet, saying Apple had contact him on the morning of the same day and told him they had fired the employee in question, but that the company had not revealed details with regard to the gravity of the data theft or whether the stolen information had been used elsewhere, the report said.