Google and Apple to introduce default encryption

Night_Hawk

Siasat.pk - Blogger
[h=1]Google and Apple to introduce default encryption[/h] By Joe Miller Technology Reporter
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Google's devices have offered the option of encryption, but many users did not make use of the feature



Google has announced that its next mobile operating system, Android L, will encrypt users' data by default.

The measure will make it more difficult for private information to be hacked or handed to law enforcement agencies.



On Thursday, Apple said that devices running its new iOS8 software would be encrypted by default, with even the company itself unable to gain access.


Both firms have offered encryption for some time, but many users were unaware of its existence or had not enabled it.


Earlier this week, Apple's boss Tim Cook posted an online message assuring users the company's philosophy was that a "great customer experience shouldn't come at the expense of your privacy".

Swipe
As well as announcing default encryption for all devices running the new iOS8 software, Mr Cook took a thinly veiled swipe at Google, saying that Apple would not use its customers' information to sell things to them.
"We don't 'monetise' the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud," he wrote, "and we don't read your email or your messages to get information to market to you."


He added that although Apple does have an advertising business, called iAd, the function can be disabled by users.


Shortly after, Google announced its stance on privacy, also embracing default encryption. A spokesman said: "For over three years, Android has offered encryption, and keys are not stored off of the device, so they cannot be shared with law enforcement.


"As part of our next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default out of the box, so you won't even have to think about turning it on."
Both Apple and Google follow in the footsteps of the now somewhat beleaguered Blackberry, which has encrypted data by default for some time.


The firms' focus on privacy comes after nude photos of celebrities were leaked online earlier this month.


The breach, which affected actress Jennifer Lawrence, among others, was linked by some security experts to vulnerabilities in Apple's iCloud storage service.


Law enforcement The introduction of default encryption also protects US firms from having to hand over data to law enforcement agencies.


As the companies themselves do not have access to users' passwords, which unlock the encryption, they are not actually in possession of the data concerned.


Several of the largest US tech firms have been fighting government requests for their users' private data, including Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Facebook and Dropbox.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29276955
 

Pak1stani

Prime Minister (20k+ posts)
Encryption was already there in Android. In Android L the change will is it will be turned on by default.
 

Night_Hawk

Siasat.pk - Blogger
[h=1]Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for police, even with search warrants[/h] [h=2]

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2014-09-09T231727Z_01_SFO44_RTRIDSP_3_APPLE-IPHONE.jpg

Phil Schiller, senior vice president at Apple, speaks about the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus on Sept. 9, 2014. (Stephen Lam/Reuters)

By Craig Timberg September 18


Apple said Wednesday night that it is making it impossible for the company to turn over data from most iPhones or iPads to police — even when they have a search warrant — taking a hard new line as tech companies attempt to blunt allegations that they have too readily participated in government efforts to collect user information.


The move, announced with the publication of a new privacy policy tied to the release of Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 8, amounts to an engineering solution to a legal quandary: Rather than comply with binding court orders, Apple has reworked its latest encryption in a way that prevents the company — or anyone but the device’s owner — from gaining access to the vast troves of user data typically stored on smartphones or tablet computers.


The key is the encryption that Apple mobile devices automatically put in place when a user selects a passcode, making it difficult for anyone who lacks that passcode to access the information within, including photos, e-mails and recordings. Apple once maintained the ability to unlock some content on devices for legally binding police requests but will no longer do so for iOS 8, it said in the new privacy policy.


“Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data,” Apple said on its Web site. “So it’s not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8.”


As the new operating system becomes widely deployed over the next several weeks, the number of iPhones and iPads that Apple is capable of breaking into for police will steadily dwindle to the point where only devices several years old — and incapable of running iOS 8 — can be unlocked by Apple.



In a letter posted on the company's Web site, CEO Tim Cook said his company offered better privacy protection than his rivals. (Reuters)



Apple will still have the ability — and the legal responsibility — to turn over user data stored elsewhere, such as in its iCloud service, which typically includes backups of photos, videos, e-mail communications, music collections and more. Users who want to prevent all forms of police access to their information will have to adjust settings in a way that blocks data from flowing to iCloud.


Apple’s new privacy policy comes less than five months after the Supreme Court ruled that police in most circumstances need a search warrant to collect information stored on phones. Apple’s action makes that distinction largely moot by depriving itself of the power to comply with search warrants for the contents of many of the phones it sells.
The move is the latest in a series in which Apple has sought to distinguish itself from competitors through more rigorous security, especially in the aftermath of revelations about government spying made by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden last year.


Although the company’s security took a publicity hit with the leak of intimate photos of celebrities from their Apple accounts in recent weeks, the move to block police access to the latest iPhones and iPads will thrill privacy activists and frustrate law enforcement officials, who have come to rely on the extensive evidence often found on personal electronic devices.


“This is a great move,” said Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union. “Particularly after the Snowden disclosures, Apple seems to understand that consumers want companies to put their privacy first. However, I suspect there are going to be a lot of unhappy law enforcement officials.”


Ronald T. Hosko, the former head of the FBI’s criminal investigative division, called the move by Apple “problematic,” saying it will contribute to the steady decrease of law enforcement’s ability to collect key evidence — to solve crimes and prevent them. The agency long has publicly worried about the “going dark” problem, in which the rising use of encryption across a range of services has undermined government’s ability to conduct surveillance, even when it is legally authorized.


“Our ability to act on data that does exist . . . is critical to our success,” Hosko said. He suggested that it would take a major event, such as a terrorist attack, to cause the pendulum to swing back toward giving authorities access to a broad range of digital information.
Many security experts have blamed security weaknesses in iCloud — some of which have since been fixed — for the recent leak of celebrity photos. Several companies also make systems designed to crack the encryption of devices, including the iPhone and iPad. Security experts generally consider Apple’s devices to be better protected against such attacks than some rivals’, although people with short passcodes — of four digits, for example — are in greater danger of what are called “brute force attacks” that relentlessly try all possible combinations.
Adding more security can make it harder for users to operate a mobile device. People who forget their passcodes with iOS 8 will not be able to recover them by contacting Apple. However, most users will have the bulk of their data automatically backed up on iCloud and would be able to restore their phones, although not before wiping them of all user data.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...f-de718edeb92f_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop