The major challenge lies ahead when Apple has to strike the balance between bolstering the encryption without creating inconvenience for users.
Apple had openly refused to assist in unlocking the phone of Syed Rizwan Farook – one of the shooters in the San Bernardino attacks but the tech titan has handed in the data from Farook’s phone, which he had backed up on iCloud service. In the near future, the company will not be able to decode user information by any means.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple has been working on strengthening its encryption so much so that even it cannot decrypt the data backed on the iCloud service.
The major obstacle that the company’s executives ought to push out of their way is how to strike the balance between the iCloud encryption and users’ convenience. Since the Cupertino, Calif. firm has always taken pride in developing easy to use, innovative, and intuitive software, it now worry about making the software complicated.
The impending complexity, which might be created by the encryption of the iCloud service, is that in the case where a user forgets the password and the company doesn’t have the keys, users will lose all the stored photos and the important data. However, if the tech organization keeps a copy of the key, it can be coerced to turn over the service by the legal authorities and the likes. A former Apple security and privacy manager, Window Snyder, also endorsed the underlying implications if the company maintains the hold of the copy of the key.
The security of software has the same issues as that attached to the physical world. Tighter security invites more hurdles for instance, more codes or locks for a home alarm system. Therefore, the company has released no determined timing in the duration in which it will bolster the encryption of its iCloud service.
The subject service of Apple is basically Internet services set through which users can sync and store the data across multiple devices. For instance, a photo shot through iPad can automatically appear on a Mac or an iPhone which has the same iCloud account. After having a secure Wi-Fi connection, the backup service of the iCloud automatically captures and saves the daily snapshot of the contents of the phone. Users can later use the backups to transfer health data, iMessages, photos and other information to a new iPhone from the old one.
Apple already has a feature called iCloud Keychain which is inaccessible by the company itself. The users can safely and securely store their credit-card information and passwords on it.
Apple already stores some data that it can’t access or read in iCloud Keychain. It is the case with the subject device of the legal battle between Apple and the F.B.I. The company readily provided the last backed up data till Oct 19 which account for six weeks prior to the shootings that occurred on Dec. 2.
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