Apple on Wednesday presented new tools to better protect the personal and professional information of its users, both from hackers and the authorities, an announcement that may displease governments concerned that law enforcement can access this data.
Customers of its iCloud storage service will soon be able to choose the “advanced data protection“, which encrypts 9 additional types of content, including photos. The iPhone maker recalled that 14 categories, such as passwords and health information, were already encrypted.
iCloud users will be able to “protect the vast majority of their most sensitive data with end-to-end encryption so that it can only be decrypted on their trusted devices“, welcomed Ivan Krstic, the head of security systems at Apple, quoted in a press release.
Only the iCloud mailbox, contacts and calendar will be excluded from this comprehensive protection technology to maintain interoperability with other systems.