iCloud data not yet set for end to end encryption


Hamza Shaban for BuzzFeed:

Apple has not yet decided whether it will continue to retain access to its customers' information stored in the cloud, the company's general counsel told members of Congress Tuesday, during a hearing on encryption and law enforcement.

"We have made no announcement -- no decision has been made," said Bruce Sewell, addressing a lawmaker's question on Apple's internal discussions about applying "passcode encryption to the next generation of iCloud."

The deal here is that device backups and most other data stored on iCloud are not outside of Apple's reach. Like most cloud-based services, the data is encrypted, but Apple can access the data. It was rumored Apple was moving towards locking itself out of iCloud user data by having customers solely hold the encryption keys.