Good news for users of iCloud. apple announced the expansion of end-to-end encryption to more categories of its cloud platform, in order to protect the privacy of your personal data. The new feature is named after Advanced Data Protection and will be available internationally from 2023.
As explained those of Cupertinoend-to-end encryption now will be available in 23 categories of iCloud data, compared to the original 14. This means that, from now on, all backup information, notes, photos, reminders, messages and more will also remain encrypted and will only be accessible through the devices enabled by the users.
Apple explains that the only three major categories of iCloud that will remain without end-to-end encryption will be iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendar. This is because they must maintain their interoperability with their corresponding global systems to continue to operate.
The Californian company is committed to providing the highest level of data protection in the cloud with the implementation of this new function. It is worth clarifying that, although the iCloud categories that already had end-to-end encryption had it activated by default, Those who want to take advantage of Advanced Data Protection will have to activate it manually.
According to Apple, this option will be available from today in the United States for those who are part of its beta software program. While it will reach the rest of the users in North America before the end of the year. Global availability of Advanced Data Protection will go live at the beginning of 2023although it has not yet been mentioned which countries it will reach first.
iCloud expands its commitment to end-to-end encryption
Apple’s determination is not minor, clearly, and can bring important changes even in the legal field. Let’s remember that those from Cupertino have had several crosses with federal agencies in the United States for not providing tools to access their devices —the iPhone, mostly— when they are encrypted. However, they did provide access to information stored in iCloud backups when legally requested. But with the implementation of Advanced Data Protection, this will no longer be possible..
Users who choose to turn on Extended End-to-End Encryption in iCloud will need to establish a method to recover their information if they lose access to their account. To do this, they can choose between a recovery key or a trusted contact.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Craig Federighi, Apple’s vice president of software engineering, highlighted the reason for extended protection for iCloud data. “As customers put more and more personal information on their devices, they increasingly become the target of attacks by advanced actors. All of us who manage customer data are under constant attack from entities attempting to breach our systems. We have to anticipate future attacks with new protections,” he said.
In addition to the expansion of end-to-end encryption in iCloud, Apple has announced Two other new security features. One is support for physical security keys in two-factor authentication; the other, a system that allows you to recognize if a hacker is trying to infiltrate an iMessage conversation.