Apple is introducing a new end-to-end encryption system called Advanced Data Protection in a bid to keep its users’ iCloud data secure.
This expanded security would also mean that Apple cedes the ability to access its own users’ data, meaning it cannot be forced to give law enforcement access, nor can users’ data be breached in the event Apple is hacked.
During the first half of 2021, Apple responded to 7,122 “valid legal requests” from US authorities for iCloud data. Adding e2ee takes this responsibility out of the company’s hands.
Apple says the new security is designed to protect its users for increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks.
“As customers have put more and more of their personal information of their lives into their devices, these have become more and more the subject of attacks by advanced actors,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering.
“All of us in the industry who manage customer data are under constant attack by entities that are attempting to breach our systems.
“We have to stay ahead of future attacks with new protections.”
