A low-level Apple employee leaked the secret iPhone code that ended up on GitHub.

iBoot, a part of iOS that ensures the device is booting a trusted operating system, surfaced online last week in what was described by one security expert as “the biggest leak in history.”

Here’s how and why the code got out.

Apple confirmed this morning that the leaked iOS source code that hit the web yesterday is indeed authentic.

The iPhone-maker ordered GitHub to pull the iBoot source code from its servers. Security researchers remain worried that the leak could help hackers compromise iPhones and iPads, but Apple says there’s nothing to worry about.

Source code for a core component of the iPhone’s software has appeared online in what is described as “the biggest leak in history.”

iBoot, a part of iOS that ensures the device is booting a trusted operating system, was posted to GitHub anonymously. The code could be used by hackers to find vulnerabilities in Apple’s software. The company has already filed a copyright take-down request to have it removed.

The team behind OpeniBoot, which allows users to run the Android OS on the iPhone 3G, are now hard at work on porting the hack to the iPhone 4 and the iPad.

Jailbreak expert Hexxeh posted a video on his blog yesterday that shows OpeniBoot running on the iPad. There’s not much to see at this point, but the video’s below if you’d like to see it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIixUYaLufo

This is a great step towards booting Android on Apple’s latest iOS devices, and it shouldn’t be too long before the hack is available for release.

If you have an iPhone 2G, 3G, or first-gen iPod Touch, and you’d like to try booting Android, it’s now even easier through Cydia – check out John’s recent post here.