News in brief

A bite of the Apple

> PROTECTIONS POSTPONED Apple is postponing its measures against Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) content, which were strongly criticized by privacy advocates. “Based on feedback from customers, advocacy groups, researchers and others,” Apple said, “we have decided to take additional time over the coming months to collect input and make improvements before releasing these critically important child safety features.” No time scale or further details were given, but it’s clear that Apple hopes to press ahead in time. Apple VP Craig Federighi told the Wall Street Journal the proposals had been “widely misunderstood.”

> WHATSAPP SECURITY UPDATE Messaging app WhatsApp is being updated to enable encrypted backups in iCloud or Google Drive, adding an extra layer of security. “WhatsApp is the first global messaging service at this scale to offer end-to-end encrypted messaging and backups,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “and getting there was a really hard technical challenge that required an entirely new framework for key storage and cloud storage across operating systems.” While iMessage also offers end-to-end encryption of messages, your encryption key is by default stored within your device backup on iCloud, meaning Apple could decrypt messages if required by law enforcement (or if you lose your password and request it). WhatsApp now closes that loophole — so don’t forget your password!