http://www.cultofmac.com/308478/confidential-apple-product-plans-quanta/ By Leander Kahney Cult of Mac Jan 9, 2015 Incredibly sloppy security at one of Apple’s key suppliers exposed some of Cupertino’s most closely guarded secrets to anybody who could conduct a simple Google search. For months, one of Quanta Computer‘s internal databases could be accessed using usernames and a default password published in a PowerPoint presentation easily found on the Web. Quanta, based in Taiwan, is the world’s largest notebook manufacturer. In addition to Apple, Quanta assembles laptops and ultrabooks for dozens of companies, including Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Sharp and Sony. The company is also supposedly assembling the upcoming Apple Watch and the long-rumored iPad Pro, though no official announcements have been made. The security lapse comes at a time of rapidly accelerating hacking incidents and cyberattacks, from credit card breaches and celebrity nude selfie leaks to the damaging theft of Sony’s most sensitive corporate data. The fact that the confidential plans of a company as secretive as Apple can be laid bare through a series of security missteps illustrates just how difficult it is to safeguard information in the digital era. […]