3 ms·

I don't think it's valid to say Apple can't access your data. Maybe I'm understanding it wrong, but wouldn't that mean all your data would have to be encrypted

• olliej 7y ago
  Correct, all your data on apple's services are encrypted such that apple can't access them. The final fallback for account recovery is the "iCloud key vault" which is covered in documentation they published. Those are essentially HSMs gated by your account password and passcode, and a counter that triggers recovery key erasure. I think the primary security white paper describes exactly how it works, but essentially there's a set of shared symmetric keys that are encrypted to public keys for each of your devices. Outside of the key vault path, the way a new device gets access to those keys is one of your other 2fa devices encrypt a decryption key to the new device when you approve it. The basic result is that there is no point in which the key material is transmitted unencrypted off a device.
  • deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  • aboodman 7y ago
    I mean, Apple can push a software update that changes how this works. But what you describe is still a lot better than nothing.
  • saagarjha 7y ago
    > all your data on apple's services are encrypted such that apple can't access them This is only true for certain services.