Apple is said to have been working on an encrypted version of iCloud backups – but now the company has had to abandon its own plans in this regard.
In contrast to iTunes backups, iCloud backups are not encrypted. This is a criticism that Apple has often had to put up with in recent years. The company is said to have been working on an encrypted version – for at least two years. But under pressure from the FBI, Cupertino had to stop work. This is according to a new report from Reuters. According to this, the FBI is said to have expressed concerns and exerted pressure. An encrypted version of iCloud backups would, among other things, hinder investigations. This is what the report says. Reuters report:
The long-running tug-of-war between investigators' concerns about security and tech companies' desire to protect users' privacy came back into the public spotlight last week when U.S. Attorney General William Barr took the rare step of publicly asking Apple to unlock two iPhones used by a Saudi air force officer who shot and killed three Americans at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida, last month. U.S. President Donald Trump accused Apple on Twitter of refusing to unlock phones belonging to "hitmen, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements." Republican and Democratic senators sounded similar notes at a hearing in December, threatening to legislate against end-to-end encryption and citing unrecoverable evidence of crimes against children.
iCloud backups are not end-to-end encrypted
Currently, iCloud backups on Apple's servers are not fully encrypted. This means that Apple can decrypt the backup itself in order to release the contents if a law enforcement agency demands it. If you don't want that, you have to do without iCloud backups and back up your data on your PC/Mac. These backups can be fully encrypted by the user without a third party being able to access them. If the password is lost, the data is also history. It remains to be seen whether Apple will eventually find a solution to the problem and ultimately fully encrypt iCloud backups - after all, demands from users and the Electronic Frontier Foundation remain. (Photo by Your_photo / Bigstockphoto)
