Apple holds the master decryption key when it comes to iCloud security

[chaosbunny]

Just an interesting article I want to share:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2...-when-it-comes-to-icloud-security-privacy.ars

I hope people are smart enough to not use cloud services for sensible data. Personally I don't use any cloud service at all.

 

[thewitt]

I assume you mean sensitive data....

Anything you are trying to protect needs to be encrypted before you store it anywhere outside your personal control.

 

[rikscha]

Just an interesting article I want to share:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2...-when-it-comes-to-icloud-security-privacy.ars

I hope people are smart enough to not use cloud services for sensible data. Personally I don't use any cloud service at all.

wild guess, you are from Germany?

iCloud is a fantastic service and we are finally getting there. Long overdue.

 

[Gav2k]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4s)

Go with google then... Wait they sell your data! Erm yahoo? No they do the same!

 

[BaldiMac]

Personally I don't use any cloud service at all.

Hard to believe unless you have a really limited definition of a cloud service. No email? Heck, this forum is a cloud service!

 

[Martyimac]

Hard to believe unless you have a really limited definition of a cloud service. No email? Heck, this forum is a cloud service!

While I agree with you, I think that viewing a forum and storing data are two different scenarios.

One is consumption of data, the other is storage of data. I have to assume the other poster meant storage of data.

 

[BaldiMac]

While I agree with you, I think that viewing a forum and storing data are two different scenarios.

One is consumption of data, the other is storage of data. I have to assume the other poster meant storage of data.

But we are not just viewing this forum. I do believe these posts are stored data.

 

[Martyimac]

But we are not just viewing this forum. I do believe these posts are stored data.

Yes but we are consuming it. MacRumors has to deal with the storage side of things.

 

[BaldiMac]

Yes but we are consuming it. MacRumors has to deal with the storage side of things.

I'm not sure what distinction you are trying to make. Forums are a cloud service that store and present user-created data.

 

[Martyimac]

I'm not sure what distinction you are trying to make. Forums are a cloud service that store and present user-created data.

You made the distinction for me. MR stores and presents the data from the cloud. We consume (view) the presentation on our computers at home. From the cloud yes but we aren't storing data there. It's a fine distinction but it works from my vantage point.

 

[chaosbunny]

I assume you mean sensitive data....

Anything you are trying to protect needs to be encrypted before you store it anywhere outside your personal control.

wild guess, you are from Germany?

iCloud is a fantastic service and we are finally getting there. Long overdue.

Yes I mean sensitive - I'm no native English speaker, not from Germany but close.

So rikscha, you think that iCloud is a fantastic service. That's fine because everyone is entitled to ones own opinion. But doesn't it give food for thought that Apple has access to all this data - especially when you add laws like ACTA to the equation?

Hard to believe unless you have a really limited definition of a cloud service. No email? Heck, this forum is a cloud service!

I guess you know what I mean ...

 

[BaldiMac]

You made the distinction for me. MR stores and presents the data from the cloud. We consume (view) the presentation on our computers at home. From the cloud yes but we aren't storing data there. It's a fine distinction but it works from my vantage point.

What is the difference between MacRumors storing our data (our posts, usernames, passwords, avatars, etc.) and presenting it to us and Google or Apple storing our data and presenting it to us?

I guess you know what I mean ...

Other than assuming you misspoke, I'm not sure what you actually meant. I'd guess that you probably use a cloud service to store email and contacts at a minimum. Probably a lot more.

 

[Bear]

¿¿¿Master Decryption Key??? This is a laugh and a half.

Where did it ever state that iCloud was storing the data in encrypted form? Yahoo mail doesn't Gmail doesn't. Why should iCloud?

 

[BaldiMac]

¿¿¿Master Decryption Key??? This is a laugh and a half.

Where did it ever state that iCloud was storing the data in encrypted form? Yahoo mail doesn't Gmail doesn't. Why should iCloud?

iCloud: iCloud security and privacy overview

 

[Bear]

iCloud: iCloud security and privacy overview

Ahh, I see now where it says that it is stored encrypted. IFOr the on disk storage, I suspect that it's not a "master" key as such. I suspect it's the only "Key".

 

[chaosbunny]

Other than assuming you misspoke, I'm not sure what you actually meant. I'd guess that you probably use a cloud service to store email and contacts at a minimum. Probably a lot more.

Well I don't use gmail or similar services, I don't even use googles search engine - I use www.duckduckgo.com - which doesn't track your searches. I have my own server and my email and contacts are stored locally and manually synced between desktop, laptop and iphone. I prefer this way over having my emails and contacts on some Apple, Microsoft or google server. But to each their own.

Since you don't see any difference between forum posts and contact information and emails, would you be so kind and post address, phone number and email of all your contacts, all of your personal emails and while we are at it your bank account information in your next post? Thank you.

If you are not willing to do so you have just noticed "the difference between MacRumors storing our data (our posts, usernames, passwords, avatars, etc.) and presenting it to us and Google or Apple storing our data and presenting it to us".

 

[BaldiMac]

Well I don't use gmail or similar services, I don't even use googles search engine - I use www.duckduckgo.com - which doesn't track your searches. I have my own server and my email and contacts are stored locally and manually synced between desktop, laptop and iphone. I prefer this way over having my emails and contacts on some Apple, Microsoft or google server. But to each their own.

Since you don't see any difference between forum posts and contact information and emails, would you be so kind and post address, phone number and email of all your contacts, all of your personal emails and while we are at it your bank account information in your next post? Thank you.

If you are not willing to do so you have just noticed "the difference between MacRumors storing our data (our posts, usernames, passwords, avatars, etc.) and presenting it to us and Google or Apple storing our data and presenting it to us".

Way to shift those goalposts. I hope you see the difference between what you are describing and your original statement that "Personally I don't use any cloud service at all."

 

[Martyimac]

Well I don't use gmail or similar services, I don't even use googles search engine - I use www.duckduckgo.com - which doesn't track your searches. I have my own server and my email and contacts are stored locally and manually synced between desktop, laptop and iphone. I prefer this way over having my emails and contacts on some Apple, Microsoft or google server. But to each their own.

Since you don't see any difference between forum posts and contact information and emails, would you be so kind and post address, phone number and email of all your contacts, all of your personal emails and while we are at it your bank account information in your next post? Thank you.

If you are not willing to do so you have just noticed "the difference between MacRumors storing our data (our posts, usernames, passwords, avatars, etc.) and presenting it to us and Google or Apple storing our data and presenting it to us".

The subtlety of this escapes some of the posters on this thread. Obviously I agree with you.

 

[chaosbunny]

Way to shift those goalposts. I hope you see the difference between what you are describing and your original statement that "Personally I don't use any cloud service at all."

1. I can't find any of your friends email addresses in your post. I'm ready to register them at some porn websites.

2. The difference is the kind of information that is stored.

3. So a forum might or might not be a cloud service. So I might have exaggerated in my original post. So the non native English speaker might have made a mistake.

4. The topic is actually the arstechnica.com article I posted - and I'm interested in peoples opinions on it. Does it matter to you? I know that other services (googles) are actually worse - but are there better alternatives?

 

[BaldiMac]

1. I can't find any of your friends email addresses in your post. I'm ready to register them at some porn websites.

2. The difference is the kind of information that is stored.

Sure, but that's a difference that you did not specify in the original statement that I questioned.

3. So a forum might or might not be a cloud service. So I might have exaggerated in my original post. So the non native English speaker might have made a mistake.

That was my only point. It seems we have reached an understanding.

 

[chaosbunny]

That was my only point. It seems we have reached an understanding.

Sounds good to me.

I'm just sad now that I didn't get some email adresses for that porn websites ...