Apple to Improve iCloud Encryption ⇥ ft.com

Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times:

Apple is working on new ways to strengthen the encryption of customers’ iCloud backups in a way that would make it impossible for the company to comply with valid requests for data from law enforcement, according to people familiar with its plans.

The move would bolster Apple customers’ security against hackers but also frustrate investigators who are currently able to obtain data from Apple’s servers through a court order.

As Christopher Soghoian said, Apple is effectively treating this saga as one of the most significant bug reports they’ve received. They are entirely absolving themselves of the burden of users’ data; users are about to become entirely responsible for what they upload, and Apple’s services are merely the conduit. This will help clarify the conflicting ways Apple describes iCloud backup security, too.

If you’re still concerned about the security and privacy of your backups after this change is made — and it’s a valid concern — it would be best to continue to create a local, encrypted backup instead.