Lost iPhone 5 Prompts Apple Security Beef-Up

Shortly after reports surfaced that Apple lost another sensitive prototype -- this time the iPhone 5 -- the company is taking steps to ensure it keeps its devices safe.

The world's largest consumer electronics company posted jobs on its website, looking for people responsible for managing risk associated with Apple's unreleased products.

The individual will collaborate with other security managers by contributing to, and managing execution of, strategic initiatives set forth by Director, Global Security, the job posting reads.

In addition to the physical products, the new manager will also ensure intellectual property will be kept in safe hands as well.

Apple reportedly lost a prototype iPhone 5, the next iteration of its yet-to-be released smartphone, in a bar in San Francisco this past month.

San Francisco police issued said that they had traced the phone back to a residences, and Apple employees accompanied them as they raided the home.

The two Apple (security) employees met with the resident and then went into the house to look for the lost item. The Apple employees did not find the lost item and left the house, the police statement said.

The homeowner, 22-year-old Sergio Calderon told media outlets that he had went to the same bar where the device was lost but had had no knowledge of the missing phone.

The case eerily echoes the loss of the iPhone 4 prototype last year, when Apple employee lost an iPhone 4 prototype at the Gourmet Haus Staudt beer garden in Redwood City, Calif.

The people who found the device sold it to Gawker Media, parent company of tech blog Gizmodo, which dissected it in a lengthy and much-circulated posting.

While lost prototypes certainly create plenty of buzz and excitement, security experts say threats to the company are far more serious in China, where thousands of workers are outsourced with the actual manufacturing of the product.

Visitors to electronics shops in Chinese cities can find fake iPods and iPhone's in similar packaging and cut-rate prices. Some companies even go as far as to use original parts from, sourced from the very manufacturers that make Apple products, for their knock-offs.

Early evidence suggests nearly 100 per cent of Apple products in unauthorised mainland markets are knockoffs, according to the unclassified cable from the US Embassy in Beijing.

Apple declined to comment on the current case, nor the job offering, keeping with Apple's long standing policy of secrecy.

Analysts are expecting the next iPhone 5 to arrive sometime in the fourth quarter -- likely October.