FORCED BACKUP OF ALL FILES TO ICLOUD WITHOUT EXCEPTION??

Users should have a choice without that choice being to NOT have use of their hardware they purchased, not leased!

Below is an example of constant options to move files to iCloud

You do have a choice. To use a more suitable product for your needs.

iCloud is not right for all needs. If off device storage is what you need, iCloud is not the right solution for you.

One shouldn’t claim an absolute without being absolutely certain. 

  You say:  “Only iCloud backups were left not encrypted. They are not the same thing.

Really?  That’s your justification?  Backups don’t really matter? Backups are just EVERYTHING THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS.  

I have 15-30 digit passwords and 2FA—and my iCloud is completely and utterly hacked.  So is every single one of my Apple devices connected to it.   I am working every day with Apple, my telco and my ISP provider to get to the bottom of it, and it is arduous.

It’s hard to listen to Apple bigots spout stuff like “Apple is 100% perfect in every way and it’s systems are absolutely impenetrable”. 

That is both naive and blatantly untrue.   Apple is just a tad more secure than others. That’s it. 

And if by “social engineering” you mean “hacking,” well then, you just neutered your own claim about the sanctity of Apple’s 2FA. 

Hackers gonna find ways in. .  

And telling a guy who’s questioning Apple’s forced iCloud backup practice that if he doesn’t like it he should back it up himself... well that’s just an ornery. .  

Apple’s decision NOT to encrypt these enforced backups is a massive betrayal of its customer base.   What it’s doing is harvesting every last byte of personal data it possibly can through forced backups snd then leaving it barely civered sit a sheer cloth. and that could easily be construed as Apple deciding to become a passive, but willing participant in data theft.  What Apple is doing with unencrypted backups is wrong on every level.  

Apple can easily afford to encrypt every single byte of data those forced backups vacuum up to its cloud servers.

But most Apple customers will not be able to suffer a loss or compromise of their personal, private data.   This conscious decision by Apple to not encrypt backups is an invitation to a data feeding frenzy on its customer’s privileged data—because that is what’s in a backup is—contacts, emails, text messages, photos, social security numbers, bank statements, babies birth dates, uncles who were just diagnosed with thyroid cancer 

How could you actually believe that THAT kind of data is less important than a network password when THAT kind of data is the very reason we have network passwords in the first place???c And THAT kind of data—backup data— is what sells not network passwords themselves.  

Apple should be encrypting absolutely everything.   No excuses. 

Rossguy,

Same here. I’m fact the cloud takes all of my photos and anything else it wants without my permission. Apple support disavows all knowledge of this.

JSYK, the iCloud has not been encrypted for several years. I don’t know if photos are encrypted at the device level of not, but I know files like Notes, Pages, and Contacts are not, so they get stored in iCloud in human-readable format. You may want to verify whether or not photos are encrypted, since you are a photographer and both security and copyrights are important for your livelihood.

Apple support has informed me that only text messages and mail are encrypted at the device level-—but that’s it! Supposedly, when text messages and mail arrive in the cloud, they’ve already been encrypted by the device that uploaded them. But your photos are a different story and Nat be at risk since the iCloud itself is no longer encrypted.

In January of 2020, Reuters announced that, several years ago, the FBI forced Apple into agreeing to stop encrypting the iCloud—otensibly to catch terrorists and such. However, that means that any decent hacker can access anyone’s iCloud account and put some nasty code in a user’s backup, later to be downloaded to their device as part of a refresh.

IMHO, this is a high risk and rather nasty known and standing security exposure.

(Google “Reuter’s + iCloud + encryptions + 2020”)

In January of 2020, Reuters announced that, several years ago, the FBI forced Apple into agreeing to stop encrypting the iCloud—

iCloud backups. Not iCloud.

Only iCloud backups were left not encrypted. They are not the same thing.

Use a strong password and 2FA and your risk is near zero. No Apple account protected by 2FA has been compromised without social engineering or a trusted device theft.