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EFF Calls on Apple to Let Users Encrypt iCloud Backups as Part of 'Fix It Already' Initiative
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You can’t recover files off the internal SSD with T2 even if you haven’t enabled encryption?
Nevermind. With the Mac mini, if the SSD still works but the system doesn’t, it won’t matter because the SSD is soldered in. If the SSD crashes then the data is likely unrecoverable anyways.
This sounds like a very reliable method indeed, but it wouldn't work for my since most systems enforce very specific password standards, e.g. must be precisely ten characters long, has to contain at least on number and one special character, must not contain any words from the blacklist (that you can't check yourself, but obviously most names are on it), must not contain more than two similar characters in succession, must not contain more than three characters in the same succession as in your last password, must be different from the last six passwords...
Therefore writing them down it is.
You can find a fitting sentence with number and symbols. I haven’t seen a website that requires a specific length of password in a very long time. I see a minimum of 8 with extra symbols usually.This sounds like a very reliable method indeed, but it wouldn't work for my since most systems enforce very specific password standards, e.g. must be precisely ten characters long, has to contain at least on number and one special character, must not contain any words from the blacklist (that you can't check yourself, but obviously most names are on it), must not contain more than two similar characters in succession, must not contain more than three characters in the same succession as in your last password, must be different from the last six passwords...
Therefore writing them down it is.
I agree with them to the extent that it should be an option just like it’s an option when you backup via iTunes. And when one uses that option there should be a huge warning that Apple will not have access to this password, that there’s no way to reset the password etc. if you forget it and you lose data, it’s on you.
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You already have to restore everything to get anything in an iCloud backup or an iTunes backup.
The first decent, well thought out rebuttal with someone thinking with common sense.
Yes please! We can encrypt local backups with any string we want, that should be made available to iCloud too.
They are talking about a mix of things which can't be encrypted end-to-end (email storage and shared photos are good examples) and a few things which are already encrypted end-to-end (iMessages).
Assuming the goal was just to encrypt more of the things which can be encrypted, you don't really have to store it any different, BUT the server cannot do things like index/search the data for you.
So say you wanted to do a text search in Notes (which I believe are already encrypted), you would either
- download all the notes and search them yourself. You'd likely create a separate table containing a search term index to be able to do this faster.
- have an encrypted document containing a search term index, created and updated peer-to-peer across devices
Photos rolled out facial recognition in this way - it was on device, it started out being a device-local index that each instance of photos had to make, but is now shared across services.
Things which are web-hosted wind up being limited typically to being readable by Apple's servers. However, you can potentially work around this via javascript (see 1Password, who does not store your password on their servers).
Of course since Apple would be serving the website and that javascript, there would be the possibility of a site or network hack to get unencrypted data while you are browsing said site.
How do you restore an iCloud backup if you forgot your password? You can’t! This article is full of baloney!
You write down your password and lock it in a safe, and take responsibility for your actions?
In today's world, there is no excuse not to have the password securely written / printed out and safely put away.
You won't complain but there will be masses blaming Apple from not being to get their precious pictures back that they failed to backup to a secondary means. I see it on forums now people that actually opted into 2FA get upset when they have to use Account Recovery because they no longer have a trusted phone number, then they complain how long the verification process is. Failing to read the document that says it's automated and calling Apple won't change the time. I think if people want further encryption and concerned on legally who has access to their iCloud information, just don't use it. Use iTunes, and turn on backup encryption and let the legal system send a subpoena for your whole computer and network records.
You can’t avoid the issue like you suggest; it’s not just about backups. Lots of apps store information on iCloud directly.
The biggest problem is too many people are lazy. They don't use password managers, they use the same password on multiple sites, they create accounts and link them to social media, and last but not least, they expect someone else (like Apple) to protect them from themselves. Too many people are stuck on stupid.
I want end to end encryption of my iCloud account. I don't need Apple to babysit my account for me.
What benefit is there to Apple if they have to yet still act as a gatekeeper for an irresponsible person? If you're going to demand encryption higher than what anyone currently wants in iCloud, then that party to bear the responsibility of complete handling IMHO. If people make demands, I would give them want they want with full disclosure, "if you lose this key, you lose your data, don't file a court order because in our terms and conditions which you skipped reading, we warned you"
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You are in control of what apps can use iCloud for, the setting is in your phone. And if a company isn't disclosing that it's housing it's data on iCloud in it's Terms & Conditions, that's a 3rd party company issue.
I turned off any app from directly storing in my iCloud except Apple apps with a flick of the wrist, at least for the companies that show on Settings > Name > iCloud, under my Apps that use iCloud list.
Bottom line is, if we're going to use something and want to take additional security, it's our responsibility to maintain that security. iCloud isn't forced on any one, it's one service you can opt into.
Yes, you can prevent iCloud access in apps, but often that means the apps won’t function fully, and you won’t be able to automatically sync data between devices, etc. So my iPad can’t see the information i just saved on my iPhone when i turn off iCloud for that app.
Why not just offer a switch to encrypt iCloud, complete with all the necessary warnings and confirmations, and leave it up to the users?
This is just one issue that gets me totally hyped up. We as people steady want someone else to be responsible for our security. Everything we do is optional down to choosing to even put any phone in our pockets or use any cloud storage. Make demands across the board if you will.
I feel like my passwords are mines, if I create it, I'm responsible for it. My backups are mines, I can choose to go cloud with it or store it locally on my computer. I also know if I forget a password to unlock that encrypted backup, I'm at a loss. I accept responsibility for my actions and choices. People that are living in fear of law enforcement using your data on your phone, cloud storage, local computer against you, get your life right...that part you're in control of.
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Think along these lines, people used to get upset when they turned on encrypted backups in iTunes, it warns to write it down, it's only a code you know. But lets say year over year they backed up and then moved to a new computer or tried to restore the phone from a backup, the backup password is in the wind. They want someone to undo it and salvage their data. They don't want to hear, you "opted" into this, we didn't force your hand to do it and therefore we're not helping you.
If Apple can do it, at a feasible cost, more power to them, the bottom line is, some are demanding it happen and not fully thinking out the implementation or consequences, all for the sake of saying it was done.
You're right about some apps not being able to keep your data in sync if you turn off iCloud, that's what the App developer coded in their app for you to use. It should be up to the developer to offer a choice, iCloud or local syncing, i.e. Airdrop the content instead. Yeah more leg work, but you're still in control. Half the apps I have on my iPhone, I don't use on my iPad and for the ones I do, looking through my list, they are Apple apps, that I'm not just using there, I'm using on my Macs also. I have it set up like I want it, with the understanding of how it flows, if I lose my passwords I'm up a creek and I won't go picking up the phone to call Apple demanding to have them undo it.
Mainly what I'm getting at, there's some of us, that can say yes give us end to end encryption with us retaining the keys, and fully understand how it works and who controls access to the data at that point. But then there's the other half, that will say "Apple why don't you have the ability to unlock this, you mean I have to lose years of files because of my own incompetence"?
I feel like my passwords are mines, if I create it, I'm responsible for it. My backups are mines, I can choose to go cloud with it or store it locally on my computer. I also know if I forget a password to unlock that encrypted backup, I'm at a loss. I accept responsibility for my actions and choices. People that are living in fear of law enforcement using your data on your phone, cloud storage, local computer against you, get your life right...that part you're in control of.
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For a company to choose to do that, that means they are also adding on additional cost, people already complain that 5GB isn't enough. Just imagine the cost absorption for that level of coding and encryption to be implemented, the cost gets passed on to someone to turn a profit.
Think along these lines, people used to get upset when they turned on encrypted backups in iTunes, it warns to write it down, it's only a code you know. But lets say year over year they backed up and then moved to a new computer or tried to restore the phone from a backup, the backup password is in the wind. They want someone to undo it and salvage their data. They don't want to hear, you "opted" into this, we didn't force your hand to do it and therefore we're not helping you.
If Apple can do it, at a feasible cost, more power to them, the bottom line is, some are demanding it happen and not fully thinking out the implementation or consequences, all for the sake of saying it was done.
You're right about some apps not being able to keep your data in sync if you turn off iCloud, that's what the App developer coded in their app for you to use. It should be up to the developer to offer a choice, iCloud or local syncing, i.e. Airdrop the content instead. Yeah more leg work, but you're still in control. Half the apps I have on my iPhone, I don't use on my iPad and for the ones I do, looking through my list, they are Apple apps, that I'm not just using there, I'm using on my Macs also. I have it set up like I want it, with the understanding of how it flows, if I lose my passwords I'm up a creek and I won't go picking up the phone to call Apple demanding to have them undo it.
Mainly what I'm getting at, there's some of us, that can say yes give us end to end encryption with us retaining the keys, and fully understand how it works and who controls access to the data at that point. But then there's the other half, that will say "Apple why don't you have the ability to unlock this, you mean I have to lose years of files because of my own incompetence"?
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Who cares? They do this on macOS already with time machine backups. You can choose to encrypt them or not.
And one day you go senile and forget your password, and your promise not to go senile and forget your password.
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Everything on your iPhone is encrypted. And still it's searchable and indexable and everything. Without the right key it's just a giant glob and not good for anything. With the right key it's all there.
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If people complain that 5GB free storage is not enough, they can get 50GB for less than a dollar a month. And the cost of coding and encryption? Whatever it costs (and it's not _that_ much) is divided by hundreds of millions of customers.
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And if on a Samsung phone they can restore all their data (with everyone else and his dog also able to restore their data), what is their next phone going to be? Apple doesn't want to be right, they want to sell.
Does that mean you are going to remember not one password but two, and if you forget any of these two you’re screwed?
I feel deluded... I thought iMesseages were "end-to-end" encrypted?
Browsing history? thats a very bad one.
Do they also keep a storage of emails from different services I uses on Apple Mail app?
They can always give a full encryption option in the settings. At the responsibility of the user, and keep the defaults as is.
I say yes and no. right now the fact that Apple doesn't make iCloud backup not totally encrypted is probably one of the reason why some governments havent forced Apple to put a lit backdoor in iCloud. You can still do encrypted backups on your Mac and there is no backdoor officially in iCloud.