Encryption and iCloud Backups
Until recently, I was under the impression that iCloud backups were protected by end-to-end encryption. Devastatingly, this is not the case.
Apple does use end-to-end encryption for some data stored in iCloud, but this does not include device backups, and it also doesn’t include a lot of the information stored separately from your backups — including notes, photos, calendar events, Safari bookmarks and tabs, contacts, or Messages in iCloud — though they do protect the rest of it with standard encryption. The things they do use end-to-end encryption for include home data, health data, stored passwords, payment information, and learned keyboard vocabulary, which are the most sensitive types of data stored in iCloud.
The fact that Apple doesn’t protect all of your data with end-to-end encryption doesn’t necessarily mean your data is at great risk. The standard encryption is strong enough to keep bad actors from accessing it; you don’t need to worry about Apple getting hacked or anything along those lines, but the difference between standard encryption and end-to-end encryption is still a big deal. Put simply, end-to-end encryption means that the only key that can unlock your data resides with you, in the form of a password, while with standard encryption, you have your key, but Apple also keeps a key in case you lose yours. The upside of Apple keeping a key is that if you do lose yours, they can help you get your data back, but the downside is that they could be persuaded to share their key with the government if subpoenaed. With end-to-end encryption, you’re the only one who has a key, so it’s inherently safer, but if you forget your password, then you lose the data and nobody in the world can help you.
Apple apparently considered using end-to-end encryption for iCloud backups a few years ago, but decided not to do so at the time. If this is true, it’s a major loss for consumer privacy. While many people may not care about having fully protected iCloud backups, it would be nice if we at least had the option. You can fully encrypt backups to a Mac or PC, but it’s much more cumbersome to connect your device to a computer to back it up when iCloud could be doing it for you automatically.
As pointed out by John Gruber on Daring Fireball, Tim Cook’s comments in a 2018 interview (with a German publication — here’s a translated copy) indicated that users would soon be able to employ end-to-end encryption to protect their iCloud backups. Hopefully, this is the case, and hopefully that option comes soon.
It’s a shame that Apple has left this door open, and it seems downright irresponsible for them to just ignore it. Though they’re already leagues ahead of all their competition, they need to be doing all they can to differentiate themselves from companies like Google if they’re going to continue to market themselves as the privacy company. Unfortunately, until all iCloud data (backups, notes, photos, etc.) is end-to-end encrypted, true privacy and security are but myths for anyone who uses iCloud.