Sure, iCloud’s convenient, but how safe is your data? No need to be alarmed: it’s actually about as well secured as it can possibly be, as long as you’re not an idiot.
Over at Ars Technica, Chris Foreman did some research on iCloud security and found that your data there is “at least as safe as it is when stored on any remote server, if not more so.”
How does Apple keep it secret, keep it safe? Well, first, they transmit everything in an encrypted formate using SSL via WebDav, IMAP and HTTP. This is then encrupted on their servers except for email and notes, which are left unencrypted to make it easier for users to search on the server.
As for the encryption being used on disk, Ars believes that they’re using “some type of ile-system encryption that is decrypted on the fly when requested from an authenticated device or computer.”
The end result? If you’ve got an iTunes email address that is relatively unknown, and you aren’t using a dictionary password, and assuming Apple is encrypting its data with keys more than 64 bits in length, “the chances of someone brute-forcing the key and decrypting the data within a lifetime are slim to none.”
A lifetime? What about hacker vampires, Chris? Hmmm?
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
7 responses to “How Safe Is Your Data In The iCloud?”
good question………
encrupted? REALLY!!!
Admittedly I did not consider the presence of mythical immortal creatures in my analysis. I also did not account for a zombie apocalypse, either. I regret the error.
Really? Do you know how to proofread?
Yeah, but how do you actually view the contents in the cloud? I mean it’s a humongous leap of faith to expect your data to be intact when there is no way to see it than each specific app that consumes it. I wish there was at least some simple web UI to see the stuff.
Yes, apparently it’s a new type of “formate”.
Proof-read OR copy and paste:
“some type of ile-system encryption that is decrypted on the fly when
requested from an authenticated device or computer.”
should be:
“some type of file-system encryption that is
decrypted on the fly when requested from an authenticated device or
computer.”
*sigh*