After 10 years of polishing, Apple iOS Director Craig Federighi talks about iCloud end-to-end encryption service
CTOnews.com December 8 news, in today's release of iOS / iPadOS 16.2 RC version update, Apple officially introduced Advanced Data Protection (Advanced Data Protection) features, including iCloud Backup, iCloud Drive, Reminders, Notes and other iCloud services to provide end-to-end data encryption protection.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, who oversees iOS / macOS and other systems development, discussed the change and predicted other security features to come.
Federridge believes that expanding iCloud end-to-end encryption took so long to prepare because Apple needed to "build toward the moment" and prove that the technology really works:
Some of the steps we've taken in designing iCloud and encryption over the past decade are necessary to prepare for this moment, and end-to-end encryption for other types of data, such as passwords and browser history, helps prove the technology.
As end-to-end encryption expands to most iCloud services, even if an attacker gains access to iCloud data, there will be no way to decrypt it. On the other hand, this feature will block iCloud.com information from being accessed, which is why it is an optional feature that can be enabled or disabled depending on how safe and convenient each iPhone user wants.
CTOnews.com understands that Federer then addressed the topic of data recovery. After advanced data protection is enabled, if users can't access their device and forget their iCloud password, they need to establish a recovery key or a data recovery contact to retrieve their content.
Advanced data protection would deny law enforcement access to data like iCloud backups or photos, which is now possible with unencrypted iCloud backups. Asked if Apple had considered this when implementing advanced data protection, Federighi said the benefits outweighed the disadvantages overall.
We deeply appreciate and support the work of law enforcement. We think we really have the same mission, which is to keep people safe. Ultimately, keeping customer data secure has a big impact on our broader security.
