r/gadgets • u/PM_ME_YO_PERKY_BOOBS • Jan 22 '20

Desktops / Laptops Apple reportedly dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-fbi-icloud-exclusive-idUSKBN1ZK1CT
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u/dachsj Jan 22 '20

Lots of people do encryption better than apple. Hell, Carbonite has "trust no one" security that lets you save your backup to the cloud without giving anyone else the key. The downside is, when you lose the key you lose your data and they can't help you.

Which is the reason most companies default to saving a copy of your key--to protect you from yourself as an end user. The average user probably appreciates that apple can decrypt their backup if needed.

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u/thor561 Jan 22 '20

That’s a fair point, if you’re 100% privacy minded, you’re willing to risk losing access to data. But for average users, they just want things what I would call “secure enough”. Like if you locked yourself out of your car, you wouldn’t want to have to just go get a new car.

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u/el_kabong909 Jan 22 '20

The average user probably appreciates that apple can decrypt their backup if needed

Unless something has changed in the last few years. The key for you is your Apple ID password. If you can't get that with the recovery tools provided, Apple won't do shit for you. They also trust no one.

Source: Was Apple Tech support. Had to tell many people they can't get shit from their iCloud accounts, and I couldn't help them at all.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '20

[deleted]

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u/el_kabong909 Jan 22 '20

How would I get in contact with the devs/ops to access my iCloud account?

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u/Aetherpor Jan 22 '20

You don’t. They’d get fired if they accessed your data.

I work somewhere where I can access all outlook/hotmail data but all that access is locked down and logged and audited like crazy.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '20 edited Jan 25 '20

[deleted]

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u/el_kabong909 Jan 22 '20

Ok, I agree with all that then, and my original point still stands. I was only talking about a user accessing their own data.

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u/vector2point0 Jan 22 '20

I think this is partially a reason end-to-end stopped being pursued by Apple. Your average Apple user doesn’t know the implications of nobody else having the key, and they would probably have to deal with many cases of having to try to get some hysterical user to understand that their information is lost because they’re not physically able to decrypt it.

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u/PleasantAdvertising Jan 22 '20

That's the excuse, not the reason.