Security News > 2022 > December > Apple Boosts Security With New iMessage, Apple ID, and iCloud Protections

Apple on Wednesday announced a raft of security measures, including an Advanced Data Protection setting that enables end-to-end encrypted data backups in its iCloud service.

"If you enable Advanced Data Protection and then lose access to your account, Apple will not have the encryption keys to help you recover it - you'll need to use your device passcode or password, a recovery contact, or a personal recovery key," Apple explains in a support document.

With the latest move, Apple has addressed a long-standing criticism that it holds the encryption keys to iCloud backups, thereby making the information vulnerable to data breaches, law enforcement requests, and even Apple's own employees.

In a related security-themed upgrade, Apple is also expanding two-factor authentication for Apple ID with support for hardware security keys and is launching a new iMessage security feature called Contact Key Verification to ensure that "They are messaging only with the people they intend."

These lock-in barriers also means that the new security protections cease to apply when communicating with users of Android smartphones, in which case Apple's Messages app delivers the chat content in the form of regular, unencrypted SMS messages.

The feature is set to be rolled out globally in 2023, alongside Security Keys for Apple ID and iMessage Contact Key Verification.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2022/12/apple-boosts-security-with-new-imessage.html