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WSJ corroborates earlier reports: Apple working on stronger iCloud encryption, balancing privacy against user experience

The Wall Street Journal is corroborating several reports from February that Apple is working on new iCloud backup encryption methods that will prevent it from being able to decrypt data without a passcode. Right now, although iCloud backups are encrypted, they are not entangled with a user passcode. This means law enforcement can get access to user content with ease; Apple has complied with thousands of these requests in the past for a variety of court cases.

Apple wants to re-engineer the iCloud backup system so even if law enforcement asked Apple to hand over such information in future, it would be impossible to decrypt without the correct passcode also being supplied at time of retrieval.

That being said, the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is having to balance enhanced privacy against overall user experience for customers. The report notes that if iCloud backups were entangled, then users who forget their password would lose access to all of their stored information, like photos or documents.

The flip side here is Apple does not want to keep hold of the keys as it does today, to prevent it from being legally compelled to hand them over. It seems that the problem is less to do with technology and more to do with design: how far does Apple want to compromise user convenience in order to improve the security of its products?

Apple’s court case with the FBI formally begins on March 22nd. The case has forced Apple to re-evaluate its security procedures in light of the understanding that it could be asked to hack itself to retrieve sensitive private information. This possibility had not really been considered until the FBI filed the motion to compel Apple to do exactly that.

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Comments

  1. PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

    “Right now, although iCloud backups are encrypted, they are not entangled with a user passcode. This means law enforcement can get access to user content with ease”

    Which is why I don’t use iCloud Backup anymore. Besides, I’ve never been able to restore successfully anyway.

    • 89p13 - 8 years ago

      Totally with you – I keep my data on my device and my backup (encrypted) on my Mac – which has encryption on the drive as well.

      My Data – My Device – My Password! Suck it Washington!

  2. ag80911 - 8 years ago

    While this sounds good – from a strategically point of view- it would be best for Apple to keep this ‘hole’ open so they can claim they are being helpful with law authorities and the court. The only thing they need to do is close out the updating process (DFU) by requiring a passcode – this way the only way to get into any phone is by thru brute force and Apple can say truthfully they cannot get into the phone regardless of the court order.

  3. 89p13 - 8 years ago

    “That being said, the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is having to balance enhanced privacy against overall user experience for customers. The report notes that if iCloud backups were entangled, then users who forget their password would lose access to all of their stored information, like photos or documents.”

    Well – Remember Your Password! Why should everyone’s privacy be threatened because some fool forgot his password.

    I can only trust that Apple gets this latest security issue implemented – though, as stated earlier, I keep nothing in the Apple Cloud as far as backups.

  4. Let’s just think it through for a moment: Would you lose all your iCloud data if you need to reset your AppleID password? That would be a No. So, it’s not as simple as described. A real solution can work as follows: Normally, backup solutions for cloud data keep more than one copy. So, the copy in the user domain is hashed with user’s passcode. The copy in a more internal domain is hashed with Apple’s client certificate (the same kind of cert that sign’s apple’s genuine software. When a store is corrupt or lost, an internal process (and only an internal process) restores it from the deeper domain backup using client cert’s private key. For that reason, it is possible for Apple to honor lawful order and yet make it more difficult for hackers to get to your data.

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.