Had it proceeded with its plan, Apple would not have been able to turn over any readable data belonging to users who opted for end-to-end encryption. intelligence court directives, which sought content from more than 18,000 accounts in the first half of 2019, the most recently reported six-month period. It turns over data more often in response to secret U.S. The company said it turned over at least some data for 90% of the requests it received.
authorities armed with regular court papers asked for and obtained full device backups or other iCloud content in 1,568 cases, covering about 6,000 accounts. In the first half of last year, the period covered by Apple’s most recent semiannual transparency report on requests for data it receives from government agencies, U.S. But that method requires direct access to the phone which would ordinarily tip off the user, who is often the subject of the investigation.Īpple’s iCloud, on the other hand, can be searched in secret.
The agency relies on hacking software that exploits security flaws to break into a phone. President Donald Trump piled on, accusing Apple on Twitter of refusing to unlock phones used by “killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements.” Republican and Democratic senators sounded a similar theme in a December hearing, threatening legislation against end-to-end encryption, citing unrecoverable evidence of crimes against children.Īpple did in fact did turn over the shooter’s iCloud backups in the Pensacola case, and said it rejected the characterization that it “has not provided substantive assistance.” Attorney General William Barr took the rare step of publicly calling on Apple to unlock two iPhones used by a Saudi Air Force officer who shot dead three Americans at a Pensacola, Florida naval base last month. The long-running tug of war between investigators’ concerns about security and tech companies’ desire for user privacy moved back into the public spotlight last week, as U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, despite taking a harder line in high-profile legal disputes with the government and casting itself as a defender of its customers’ information. It shows how much Apple has been willing to help U.S. If you back up to iCloud, your backup is automatically encrypted and you don't need a passcode to use it.The tech giant’s reversal, about two years ago, has not previously been reported. To turn off iTunes backup encryption, uncheck the Encrypted backup box in iTunes and enter the password.Ībout encrypted backups in iTunes - Apple Support You won't be able to use previous encrypted backups, but you can back up your current data using iTunes and setting a new backup password. Connect your device to iTunes again and create a new encrypted backup.It also removes your encrypted backup password. This won't affect your user data or passwords, but it will reset settings like display brightness, Home screen layout, and wallpaper.
You can’t restore an encrypted backup without its password.
If you can’t remember the password for your encrypted backup
Is this an encrypted backup for a device running iOS 11? If so, you can reset your Encryption password without having to erase your phone: