how secure is "notes"

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/two-step-verification-apple/

Well it depends.

At minimum, Notes is as secure as your devices themselves are. If you don't have a passcode on your devices, or a password on your Mac, then all of them are viewable by anyone who gets the device. So passcodes and passwords are good.

If you're using iCloud, then the data is on Apple's servers as well. Transmittal of this info is encrypted with SSL, which is generally pretty secure (this is the same as email transmittal if you click the SSL box).

I think the content is reasonably secure, though I don't know that I'd store all my passwords up there. I'd use something that encrypts my passwords in a database instead.

So my iPhone4s was stolen. Running iOS 7, passcode locked, and Find My Iphone enabled (I think). By the time I realized it was gone 30 minutes later, it was off the grid, and it was fully charged so someone turned it off or put it in airplane mode. So now I cannot locate it or wipe it. My understanding is that if someone puts a different SIM in the phone, they will still be unable to use it with the new passcode authentication of iOS 7. But I cannot wipe it either, so my big concern now is how secure is the content of my Notes. Unlikely the thief is interested in the data, but how much do I still need to worry? Is there any way for them to make the phone operable without wiping the data? Is there a way for them to take the data off the phone and hack the data later?

With iOS 7 and an iCloud account on it, without your AppleID and passcode, it is effectively a brick to whomever has it. Activation lock means they cannot activate it without your passcode, even if they erase it and try, it will still be blocked.

Thanks much. Can they get to the data without activating the phone? Somehow mount the phone as a drive and then get the data? I saw some other comment about maybe backing up the phone in iTunes, then hacking the backup file.

Going forward, I will choose one of the many notes apps that encrypts or adds some other protection. A pain sometimes, but my state of mind for the last 24 hours tells me it owuld be worth it to avoid this.

Your message and some other things I have seen give me some comfort. My dilemma now is that I sent a wipe command via Find My iPhone, so that the next time someone turns on the phone and it connects via WiFi or cellular, the data gets wiped. Problem is that I am told that the wipe command won't go through if I deactivate the phone, and I cannot start using my new phone without deactivating the old one. So now I have to decide how important it is to me to keep the phone activated for a week or so to see if it wipes.

I am feeling OK about letting it go.

No. It's encrypted.

Unless they can guess your passcode they can't get at the data. If you picked a 4-digit passcode, and you didn't have "wipe after 10 failed attempts" then they can get to your data if they have enough dogged determinance as there's a 1 in 10,000 chance they can guess each time (and of 4-digit passcodes, there are about 100 of them that combined probably have a 25% chance, as they're common).

Didn't realize it was encrypted. That's good news for me. Thanks.

Thanks all for the help. Makes it a good day.