To Apple's credit there are still significant parts of their platform that remain end-to-end encrypted even in China -- meaning that Apple or any other cloud operator can't read because they don't have the keys, notably:[1]
- iMessage
- Keychain
- Siri data
And more like health, home & payments.
While it's unfortunate that Apple couldn't compel China to run their government requests for data through the U.S. court system, in my view it is pretty amazing that they are "getting away" with keeping the most sensitive data end-to-end encrypted.
I mean China shut down WhatsApp last year and iMessage is of a similar level of security.[2] Then again nobody really uses iMessage in China. They do use keychain.
To Apple's non-credit, it's still tying iMessage backups to iCloud backups despite years of criticism over this. That means everyone who uses iCloud backups (enabled by default on iPhones) don't actually benefit from iMessage's "end-to-end encryption" (which isn't that safe against sophisticated hackers or oppressive authorities to begin with).
I'd say people may as well forget about Apple's "privacy stance". It's nothing but smokescreen at this point (yes, even in the U.S.).
> iMessage's "end-to-end encryption" (which isn't that safe against sophisticated hackers or oppressive authorities to begin with)
Could you support this claim please?
Re: iCloud backups you're correct. So far. They're about to release iMessages-in-iCloud though, which might obviate the need to include them in iCloud backups.
1280-bit keys are still mostly sufficient for now, this isn’t a website where every party is relying on the key of the server being heavily resistant to protects millions of users - every device has a unique key.
Still, you are correct that a determined adversary, potentially one capable of purchasing a quantum computer with enough quibits could factor the device key. It would be nice to see Apple move to a large enough ECC key which would improve security against quantum computing attacks in particular.
True ones are still off in the near future, ones with enough quibits for Shor’s algorithm are far enough away for now as well - which is why I generally feel safe with the current level of cryptography Apple uses with iMessage.
I won’t underestimate the rate at which they are developed though, it takes 2x the key size as the number of quibits to run Shor’s algorithm - ~2600 is a lot smaller than 4096, and even then who knows how much time we have until that happens.
So don't use iCloud backups. You're never required to. You can trivially back up through iTunes, even automatically via Wi-Fi assuming you have them on the same network regularly.
Anyone concerned about privacy, the first thing they should be ensuring is they are NOT using iCloud backup.
You're correct, though its Apple's MO to supply security in an intuitive manner. IF you tout all these parts of your platform as secure and have one insecure piece that interfaces with it then it isnt a secure platform. The onus should be on Apple to secure iCloud. To their credit, I think they know that and will be. Those who are knowledgeable and care about security will continue to stay ahead of those who aren't, but Apple is making the division smaller.
Yup. iTunes has been a central hub ever since the iPod. Once they had the syncing work there, it made a certain amount of sense to use it for all iDevices and interaction with Apple's media, as it was available on both Windows and macOS. It's been a painful and unhappy evolution, in my experience (and those of many others from what I've read), however.
First, it's relevant to understand the history of what made Apple the behemoth they are today and no matter what random outlier opinions about iTunes you see, it's absolutely iTunes + iPod and what that brought to the general public for managing media and having a great portable media experience 15 years ago.
So yeah iTunes is still a core concern when it comes to managing iOS devices of certain types. When iPhone came out the primary selling points included it being an iPod, were you there? I was. There is no way in hell they were going to let go of the signature usability boon that people relied on and made them rich.
So yeah, iPhone was managed by iTunes and for a long time it was the only way to manage media, contacts, etc. on it or do that sort of thing. iPad was included in this, as well.
Over time, alternative options for managing your device data and such have been implemented. Today you can use iOS devices without ever once connecting to iTunes if you want. Sure. On the device there is a file browser though it's semi sandboxed as you can imagine. You can backup to the cloud if you want hence this discussion. It's all independent. If you want.
However, iTunes still provides some very useful abilities. Besides offering a vastly improved UI for managing your media, it offers things like full image restores, deep encrypted backups (requiring no internet access to restore) and recovery features. You can place data directly into individual app sandboxes, or copy videos/music/etc. directly to device.
Despite what another commenter mentioned, I very much doubt these features will be removed. Maybe they will move out of iTunes. A long time ago there used to be a tool called iSync that was dedicated to device sync/interactions on Mac OS X and I could see that kind of approach being revived. It's very nice to have an OS provided, reliable way to recover a bricked phone, or recover backups without blowing an entire weekend of downloading/installing not to mention data usage restrictions many people still endure.
Anyway, TL;DR: you can use iTunes but you don't have to because history.
Given that Apple recently removed the ability to buy apps from iTunes, I think the writings's on the wall for the ability to locally backup iOS devices. Which is a huge shame.
My guess is they're waiting for more complete coverage in terms of iCloud functionality and maybe security. But Apple has been known to pull the plug on "pro" functionality like this and/or remove functionality before the replacement was quite ready yet.
On macOS (I also use it on Linux, haven't tried on Windows):
brew install libimobiledevice
## to disable iCloud backups
idevicebackup2 cloud off
## if you want encrypted backups (native encryption)
idevicebackup2 encryption on -i
## backup to a folder
idevicebackup2 backup backup-folder
## restore from a backup
idevicebackup2 restore backup-folder
This uses the same format as iTunes, which stores them in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
Just keychain backups. However they could extend that mechanism to other data. I’m excited to see what they do with iMessage-on-iCloud which is very close to release.
Passwords are backed up but they are end to end encrypted. Check out Cloud Key Vault, it’s a pretty cool solution for keychain (password) backups designed for adversarial clouds.
Unfortunately does not apply to regular iCloud backups or most other data. But a major step forward.
end to end encrypted doesn’t mean much when your decryption key is the Apple account/iCloud password.
AFAIK I never had to define an encryption password for an iCloud backup only for local backups with iTunes which means that the device only needs my Apple account credentials to retrieve and decrypt a backup from iCloud as such China and for that matter any entity which gains lawful or unlawful access to your Apple account gets to have the keys to the kingdom.
The key for the backups can’t be the device passcode because the device passcode protects the key stored in the Secure Enclave on the device that is the local encryption key also 6 digits isn’t nearly enough entropy for any key derivation algorithm.
I can download a backup from iCloud and unpack it in any device or use a 3rd party application to view to content of the backup and the only thing I need is the Apple account password used for iCloud.
"We have a feature called iCloud Keychain Backup, and here's what we do. We have a new credential, the iCloud Security Code, and most often this is the device passcode."
- Apple security architect, in the aforelinked video, which you still didn't watch
I don't think that Chinese government cares for the Siri Data as much. Not many Chinese people ask "Hey Siri what is Democracy?". Keys to the cloud is the keys to the kingdom, unless someone turns off iCloud the moment they activate their phones.
- iMessage
- Keychain
- Siri data
And more like health, home & payments.
While it's unfortunate that Apple couldn't compel China to run their government requests for data through the U.S. court system, in my view it is pretty amazing that they are "getting away" with keeping the most sensitive data end-to-end encrypted.
I mean China shut down WhatsApp last year and iMessage is of a similar level of security.[2] Then again nobody really uses iMessage in China. They do use keychain.
[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303
[2] https://www.apple.com/business/docs/iOS_Security_Guide.pdf