Apple announces new security and privacy measures amid surge in cyber-attacks
Apple announced a suite of security and privacy improvements on Wednesday that the company is pitching as a way to help people protect their data from hackers, including one that civil liberty and privacy advocates have long pushed for.
The tech giant will soon allow users to choose to secure more of the data backed up to their iCloud using end-toend encryption, which means no one but the user will be able to access that information.
Apple says the changes will help users protect their digital lives from hackers in the exceptional case that an advanced state actor was able to breach the company servers. But privacy advocates like Albert Fox Cahn, founder of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, say these changes may have a more immediate effect on the types of user data law enforcement and government agencies can get from Apple.
These changes “acknowledge the massive public backlash against expanded spying on our devices”, particularly in the aftermath of the supreme court’s reversal of federal abortion protections, he said.
“This type of protection is most valuable in protecting against not cyber criminals, but people who are abusing government power to force the company to hand over data,” Cahn said. “Apple has long been in the position where it’s had to be the long arm of the police for years. Their law enforcement manual shows dozens of ways that they can help with investigations and now for people who opt into the protection [feature], there will be a safeguard going forward.”