File with sensitive data found in iCloud Destop folder

[OSXphoto]

Hey all,
I found a (copy of) a file in my iCloud Desktop folder. I surely didn't put it there on purpose.

It's a file containing highly sensitive data (passwords of industrial devices that cannot be stored in a password manager) that I normally keep in a sparsebundle with password protection. I found myself in agony for a minute when I noticed a copy of this file on my Desktop, which happens to be in iCloud: all of my sensitive data was in a fully exposed state, ripped from the refuge of the sparsebundle, and it even had been uploaded to Apple. Arghhh.

What I did:
1. I copied the file (renamed it first) to the sparsebundle in case I would find the need to examine it later
2. I deleted the file from the iCloud Desktop folder and emptied the trash

Question 1:
The file has resided in the iCloud desktop folder for about a month (I hardly ever use the Desktop folder) before I stumbled on it. Can I still consider the file contents to be 100% confidential? In other words: can I rely on Apple not making copies of my iCloud data? A breach or succesful hacking attempt is not likely as iCloud uses 2FA and I haven't seen any rogue login notifications. The devices in question can be accessed from the internet and we haven't seen any unusual activity.

Question 2:
I am wondering how in the name of Steve Jobs this file could end up in the Desktop folder. Is there some automated process that saves orphan files to the desktop folder by default? So let's say I was working on that file and I closed the sparsebundle prematurely or the network connection was lost, would MacOS save the file to the Desktop? Can't think of anything else ATM.

I could of course change all the passwords, but that would take me days.

Would appreciate any help.

 

[poked]

It’d probably save it to the desktop, yes. I would turn off iCloud ASAP for any files that contain sensitive information, and re-make any passwords contained in that documentation folder, if you can. Otherwise just keep iCloud off if at all possible so it doesn’t scoop up those files and dump them. And here is an article regarding iCloud security: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303

 

[OSXphoto]

Thank you. I followed the link and I have 2FA enabled, which means the connection "should" be encrypted E2E. But I will nevertheless change the most vital passwords in the file.

If you say "just keep iCloud off" I think you might mean to only uncheck the "Desktop and Documents folders" entry at the top of the "System Settings / AppleID / iCloud / iCloud Drive" menu? And I assume it will only break the link to the local desktop and documents folders to iCloud Drive, right?

I ask because I am using iCloud Drive to store and share 4GB of data and I don't want to lose that.

Thanks!

 

[KALLT]

Disabling "Desktop and Documents folders” ought to be enough. If you disable iCloud Drive entirely, then you will lose access to the iCloud Drive folder in Finder as well as iCloud Drive support in apps.

As for why a copy ended up on the desktop: hard to say. macOS normally does not save (copies of) files on the desktop without being told to do so, as far as I know. Manual duplicates are also created in the same folder as the source file; the desktop is not a default location for any new files, except for screenshots.

The data on iCloud Drive is not end-to-end encrypted, just encrypted by Apple. Though I assume that Apple treats this data as confidential, they might be compelled to store backups of the data in accordance with data retention laws or hand over data in compliance with the law.

 

[OSXphoto]

Thank you KALLT. I can only think of one way how the file could have ended up in the desktop folder:
1. I open a sparsebundle that resides on a NAS shared folder
2. I open the file containing the sensitive data
3. I prematurely close the sparsebundle (or it was closed automatically when the NAS went down)
4. I have an "orphan" file that has no home (or at least the path to the home disappeared)
5. Upon closing the file I did not get a warning. Maybe in case of a freeze or an app that would not shut down normally?
6. MacOS decides to paste the file to a default path, such as the desktop

Might try if I could reproduce this scenario as soon as I have some time.

Cheers