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Before you go shaming those bad, bad Chinese companies, imagine my surprise when I restored my Apple iPhone from iCloud only to find my (always set to private!)

Before you go shaming those bad, bad Chinese companies, imagine my surprise when I restored my Apple iPhone from iCloud only to find my (always set to private!) Safari back there with every tab I ever opened.

gruez 6y ago
It's entirely possible to implement that behavior in a privacy preserving way. Just encrypt "sensitive" data with a key that's stored on the secure element. That way if you restore to the same device, you get everything back. Sadly, I don't feel like wiping my phone to test this out, so whether Apple actually does that is an open question at this point.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
coolspot 6y ago
Your backup is encrypted https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303
- centimeter 6y ago
  That chart from Apple is quite misleading. Apple abandoned full strong encryption for iCloud data, apparently due to pressure from the US Government. https://9to5mac.com/2020/01/21/apple-reportedly-abandoned-end-to-end-icloud/ https://9to5mac.com/2020/01/21/apple-reportedly-abandoned-en... Only the things under "End-to-end encrypted data" are actually encrypted in a meaningful way - everything else just sits on servers that use disk encryption, but that fails to defend from 99% of realistic attack scenarios. A lot of content - including photos (which I used to use to take pictures of sensitive personal data, like ID cards) - is not meaningfully encrypted. Thankfully, Safari tab data is actually encrypted as of iOS 13. While Apple has done a good job of protecting user privacy compared to the alternatives, they still have a lot of work to do before we can accurately say things like "iCloud backups are encrypted".
hawaiian 6y ago
I sincerely doubt the veracity of your claim.
- google234123 6y ago
  Apple keeps private browsing tabs open until you close them - I think.

gruez 6y ago

It's entirely possible to implement that behavior in a privacy preserving way. Just encrypt "sensitive" data with a key that's stored on the secure element. That way if you restore to the same device, you get everything back. Sadly, I don't feel like wiping my phone to test this out, so whether Apple actually does that is an open question at this point.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

coolspot 6y ago

Your backup is encrypted https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303

centimeter 6y ago
That chart from Apple is quite misleading. Apple abandoned full strong encryption for iCloud data, apparently due to pressure from the US Government. https://9to5mac.com/2020/01/21/apple-reportedly-abandoned-end-to-end-icloud/ https://9to5mac.com/2020/01/21/apple-reportedly-abandoned-en... Only the things under "End-to-end encrypted data" are actually encrypted in a meaningful way - everything else just sits on servers that use disk encryption, but that fails to defend from 99% of realistic attack scenarios. A lot of content - including photos (which I used to use to take pictures of sensitive personal data, like ID cards) - is not meaningfully encrypted. Thankfully, Safari tab data is actually encrypted as of iOS 13. While Apple has done a good job of protecting user privacy compared to the alternatives, they still have a lot of work to do before we can accurately say things like "iCloud backups are encrypted".

hawaiian 6y ago

I sincerely doubt the veracity of your claim.

google234123 6y ago
Apple keeps private browsing tabs open until you close them - I think.