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Report: Apple developing at least 6 cloud infrastructure projects incl. servers to prevent snooping

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Following two reports earlier this month detailing Apple’s deal to move iCloud partly to Google’s Cloud Platform, as well as the company’s efforts at building out its own cloud infrastructure, The Information today offers new details on the projects.

Adding to a report from VentureBeat earlier this week, today’s report offers more details on what Apple is doing with“Project McQueen” that could see the company replacing third-party vendors with more of its own cloud infrastructure. The Information reports that Project McQueen is actually just one of at least six internal efforts at Apple including building its own servers, networking equipment, and “systems that could one day help developers to power their apps.”

Apple has at least six projects underway to develop cloud infrastructure, including one codenamed Project McQueen designed to build its own data storage systems. Others include projects to build servers, networking equipment and systems that could one day help developers to power their apps. Apple can’t move off rival cloud services entirely until all the cloud elements are ready, although it will be able to limit its dependence on others if some of these were completed.

And when it comes to building its own servers, the report claims that Apple is partly motivated by the fact that it believes the servers it receives from third-parties have been “intercepted during shipping, with additional chips and firmware added to them by unknown third parties in order to make them vulnerable to infiltration.”

At least part of the driver for this is to ensure that the servers are secure. Apple has long suspected that servers it ordered from the traditional supply chain were intercepted during shipping, with additional chips and firmware added to them by unknown third parties in order to make them vulnerable to infiltration, according to a person familiar with the matter. At one point, Apple even assigned people to take photographs of motherboards and annotate the function of each chip, explaining why it was supposed to be there. Building its own servers with motherboards it designed would be the most surefire way for Apple to prevent unauthorized snooping via extra chips.

That gives another interesting angle to Apple’s motivation for wanting to develop and run its own cloud, especially given the recent controversy with the FBI over the San Bernardino case and encryption on Apple devices. But in the meantime Apple will still rely on third-parties like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and others to power iCloud. The report adds that sources with knowledge of Apple’s projects say the company is still likely “years away” from being able to leave its third-party partners entirely.

The full story from The Information (behind paywall) has more on the projects.

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Comments

  1. Avieshek (@avieshek) - 8 years ago

    Congrats.

  2. Doug Aalseth - 8 years ago

    I’ve been reading for a few years about how the NSA and other bad guys were slipping chips into servers to allow them to circumnavigate security without a warrant. This is just further confirmation.

  3. Cloud services are essential to being competitive in this “mobile first” world. If you want to do your own services, you need to own your own infrastructure. Good to see Apple doing something about this. Better late than never.

  4. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    I would liked to heard more about privacy Monday and initiatives like this. Also Apple should mentioned 2 factor authentication during its short presentation.

  5. John Smith - 8 years ago

    If Apple is putting my data onto a server run by Google – while all the time telling me it is on something called iCloud – then the NSA is the least of my worries.

    The NSA has not the smallest interest in my data. Google is very interested.

    • John Denver - 8 years ago

      This is a stupid comment. Any corporation’s Terms of Service would protect its customers data as best as able. Google’s included.

  6. John Smith - 8 years ago

    Latest on the ‘Apple protecting the privacy of dead terrorists’ marketing stunt ….

    News sources reporting that an Israeli firm is behind the offer to open up the phone. Apparently they have a standard product that dumps the memory of locked iPhones and allows unlimited attempts at the PIN. So much for Apple’s commitment to our privacy and security. LOL.

    So basically … the software that Apple claims would be ‘like cancer’ …. would be the end of all privacy and the start of a police state … would result in all American tech firms collapsing and leaving the USA … well that software already exists, and none of that has happened.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35883441

    • You are conflating two completely different methods of breaking into the phone. But feel free to ignore details to make a point. Nothing is completely secure, but Apple has the right not to let the government force it to write software it wouldn’t otherwise, and software that would then be demanded to be used by every jackass DOJ and prosecutor in the US, not to mention governments from other countries.

      No, the software that the government wanted apple to write doesn’t exist, and it has nothing to do with the methodology that the Israeli company is using (even the reports are even accurate on that point).

  7. lkernan - 8 years ago

    I’ve got the perfect name for their new servers. Xserve.

  8. phuzz - 8 years ago

    Why did they stop making their own servers in the first place?

  9. Look nOObs, if it isn’t a ‘zero knowledge’ service then it can’t be trusted. Everything you do should be zero knowledge, if possible. Terms of service offering protection? Was that a joke? Zero Knowledge offers protection because the company offering it has ‘no way’ to know what you are doing and how to get to it. Email and Cloud Storage at this juncture should AT LEAST be Zero Knowledge. Try Tutanota or Startmail for email, and Sync of Tresorit for Cloud Storage.. If it’s not zero knowledge, you aren’t safe.

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.