iPad Backup Encryption Password Nightmare

Hey Mr Lawrence Finch,

I think you miss the point of most of these comments. The root cause of the problem is irrelevant. In 100 million users, a number of them will make errors - personally, I believe that I too have been the victim of some overzealous software designer, but it really doesn't matter because my problem has not been resolved.

If your bank said to you, we will never allow you to access your bank account if ever you forget your pin, what would you do? Would you enjoy some smarmy guy sitting back and saying "Look, WE didn't lose your pin - only you could have created it, and since you've forgotten it, you can no longer access your money."

'Cause that's what you're saying. If for whatever reason, the password can't be remembered, then there is no way to resolve the problem.

Only the real problem is much worse! I also don't care about the old backups - happy to delete them and never gain access. But the real problem is that I cannot perform a new unencrypted backup because **** iTunes requires the password to enable me to switch off encryption for the device. That is, the backup password seems to be associated with the device, not the backup file! That is ****!!

Also, the idea about allowing a user to unlock their password is easily and safely implemented - store the passwords themselves in an encrypted file on the device, where the encryption key is the Apple ID password, phone lock code, or some other user defined password - at least there is an opportunity for the user to recover lost passwords then and without risk to the encrypted file as you could only gain access to the encrypted backup file by having full access to the original device. Really not a very difficult concept is it?

However, the biggest problem remains the design flaw described above - forcing future backups to be encrypted just because past backups were. We should be able to switch off future backup encryption without knowing an historical password.

Cheers and good luck with your future in customer service.

Hi,

I am also having this problem, just recieved a new iPhone to replace my old one and want to transfer all of my contacts/data etc to the new phone. My iPhone is a company phone, and I believe the password encryption has something to do with the company's own installed profiles Settings>General>Profiles>iPhone default policy>More details>Restriction: Enforces encrypted backups.

I suggest you contact your network administrator for the corporate password.

I'm still working on it, personally, as it is the weekend.

I got it!

If you didn't set up a password, unplug your ipad (or iphone), click continue, set up from backup from your computer and it won't ask for a password! (I hope you understand what I try to say)

After over an hour of trying my passwords, managed to figure out which one it uses. Seems like it automatically encrypts using your screen lock password.

Took me a while to remember that I had set a simple password so i could unlock it while driving (yeah..i know...). I would never set this as my encrypt backup, so think back to your last backup, what was your screenlock code? But more importnatly, what was it when you backed-up last.

The one flaw in your logic is that iTunes, which creates the backup, has no idea what your screen lock password is. So you must have entered it in response to a prompt.

The other flaw is that dozens of users who have found their backup password through trial and error have all found it to be different passwords that they have used for other things.

Lawrence I believe you are missing their points; The software IS flawed; Maybe its designed to sell iCloud storage... or perhaps its just an awful engineering oversight; who cares, its just broken.

I'll approach this from a different angle; one not focused on recovering a password for iPhone restoration.

Please test my 'logic'

example:

I would like to create a non-encrypted backup

a) I have my fully functional iPhone in hand

b) Within iTunes, trust is established for my puter and it is appropriately authorized

c) Using iTunes, I can perform a transfer of authorized purchases from the device

d) Encrypted backups are presently enabled within iTunes; again, I would like this disabled

e) Encryption was likely enable over 5 years ago for a different device; this password is bound to the app, not the device

f) Because it is good security practice to NOT record passwords, I have no record of this ancient password and therefore I cannot disable encrypted backups; the software requires sucessful password entry in order to diable the feature

g) I simply want to turn encrypted backups off; moving forward

h) I have no desire to restore previously encrypted backups; these backups have been deleted anyway (because they are unrecoverable w/o this password)

WHO CARES WHAT THE PASSWORD IS or WAS; Apple developers should enable other means to override this ridiculousness.

Thanks Doktor_B, saved a lot of frustration!

After your suggestion; I also tried the Elcomsoft eval version and used a txt list of known passwords to determine which was used. Sorted it straight away! ( gave me the first 2 characters on the eval version which was enough to pin it down)

For anyone wanting to use a define list in elcomsoft : it goes as follows

1) locate backup on PC (usually C:\Users\nnn\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup)

2) select same and make sure detail of phone\ipad is corect) and open manifest.plist

3) in the attacks window click + (on the right) and select wordlist attack

4) point it at your previously prepared .txt file ( make sure it has one pwd per line)

5) You can remove english.dic if you want to shorten the search time by hi-lighting it and select - (minus)

6) select START and off you go!

Best of luck

jtm.

I tried ElmSoft... no luck! Problem is - I FORGOT NOTHING!!!

I have never encrypted my local backup as it is a personal laptop with only 1 user. Only backup I had was date/time stamped to coincide with my last iPad iOS update. In other words... the software update decided on its own to backup my iPad locally & encrypt it. Tried, Apple, iPad & Windows passwords - none work.

IMHO - Apple should fix this ASAP with another update allowing a user to delete all prior backups & then remove the encryption option on iPad backups.

If you need to backup before then, this response sounds most logical...

<<<Re: Forgot Encryption Password

If you can't remember the encryption password you will have to restore the phone as new. Fortunately, you can guess as many times as you need to. For a faster process instead of trying to restore and wait for the passcode prompt just uncheck "Encrypt backup" and you will be prompted immediately.

Author:

Lawrence Finch

Date:

Feb 3, 2014 >>>

CWillison wrote:

IMHO - Apple should fix this ASAP with another update allowing a user to delete all prior backups & then remove the encryption option on iPad backups.

If you need to backup before then, this response sounds most logical...

The problem with that is any thief could then create a new, unencrypted backup and steal your data from it.

You mised the part where APPLE update (not me) made the choice to encrypt a backup of my iPad & implement an unknown password!

It should be *MY* choice to password lock (or not) my iPad & backup - *MY* choice of password!

How would you feel it you installed some new backup software on your PC & it arbritrarily decided to perform a full backup WITH PASSWORD that it picked & had no means of recovering that password for you???

I did have this sort of thing happen to me once... had a FULL backup from days before RAM flashed & toasted my motherboard. My fancy backup software would only allow the PC that actually created the backup to read the file - great security! Fortunately I was able to pull the hard drive from the dead PC & recover files directly. Never was able to recover from the backup.

CWillison wrote:

You mised the part where APPLE update (not me) made the choice to encrypt a backup of my iPad & implement an unknown password!

And you missed the point that this is NOT TRUE. Apple NEVER makes that choice for you. Either you checked it accidently, or, if you have an MS Exchange email account on your phone, your Exchange Administrator made the choice for you.

And whether you remember doing it or not, YOU entered the password or your Exchange administrator made it your domain password if that's applicable. Apple's software doesn't know your passwords, so there is no way iTunes could have randomly chosen a password that you used elsewhere. This is a basic security principle - one application running on a computer has no way of determining the passwords used for other applications, because passwords are always stored encrypted within applications.

I've had iPhones since day one in 2007. My backup never magically became encrypted. Why should you be singled out?

Let us examine the facts,,,

1) I am discussing an iPad, not a phone... wifi, no 3g.

2) I am on a home network, single user (myself) & I am admin. No exchange administrator involved. If I connect to an office network, it is with a "guest" account for wi-fi without access to any servers.

3) I have previously backed up up my iPad to my laptop (prior to an earlier iOS update WITHOUT password encrypytion.

4) I have different passwords on my home network, my various laptops, my iPad & my Apple accounts.

5) I was prompted to install the latest iOS update on my iPad & I initiated the process. I do not recall a prompt to backup my iPad or to enter a password for an encrypted backup.

6) Encrypted backup was timestamped to coincide with the date/time of the iOS update. Have tried my Apple, iPad, Windows & network passwords - none work. IF I was prompted for a password/backup at the start of the update & hit return (no password) then I should be able to remove the encrypted password option by hitting return - NO!

So do you see why I am assuming that the iOS update performed the encripted backup & assigned an unknown password?

The original encrypted backup could have been created any time since the first time you backed up your iPad, perhaps years ago if you have had it that long. Once you enter the password the first time you will never be prompted for it again, until you have to restore the backup.

The timestamp on the encrypted backup will be the most recent time it was backed up, not the first time it was encrypted. Do you have any older backups that appear when you go to iTunes Preferences, Devices pane? If so, do any of them have a lock icon next to them?

Not sure if this is completely relevant here but I was recently searching for a solution to the forgotten password to encrypted backup. I tried all my usual passwords with no luck. Then I tried Elcomsoft Password Breaker and the correct password was one I had been using which made no sense. By chance I clicked on Restore Backup in iTunes and a message came up telling me to turn off Find My iPad in iPad settings in order to restore (this only requires your Apple ID password). I did this and the next time I unticked Encrypt local backup my password was accepted. So for those people going crazy trying to find the correct password, you may be using the right one but it is not being accepted. Hope this helps someone because it was driving me crazy. I was about to jailbreak the iPad and delete the passwords which sounded messy. Glad I found this in time.

CWillison wrote:

Let us examine the facts,,,

1) I am discussing an iPad, not a phone... wifi, no 3g.

2) I am on a home network, single user (myself) & I am admin. No exchange administrator involved. If I connect to an office network, it is with a "guest" account for wi-fi without access to any servers.

3) I have previously backed up up my iPad to my laptop (prior to an earlier iOS update WITHOUT password encrypytion.

4) I have different passwords on my home network, my various laptops, my iPad & my Apple accounts.

5) I was prompted to install the latest iOS update on my iPad & I initiated the process. I do not recall a prompt to backup my iPad or to enter a password for an encrypted backup.

6) Encrypted backup was timestamped to coincide with the date/time of the iOS update. Have tried my Apple, iPad, Windows & network passwords - none work. IF I was prompted for a password/backup at the start of the update & hit return (no password) then I should be able to remove the encrypted password option by hitting return - NO!

So do you see why I am assuming that the iOS update performed the encripted backup & assigned an unknown password?

6. The time stamp on the backup is the time of the most recent backup, not the first time it was encrypted. It could have been first encrypted 5 years ago, but the time stamp would still be current. And after entering a password the first time (such as 5 years ago) you would never be prompted for it again, except to restore the backup. Have you ever restored a backup before?