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Of course there are back doors, like the well known NSAKEY one [1] in Windows. Apple also seem to have backdoors into encryption on both Mac and iOS [2]. If yo
by codev 13y ago
Of course there are back doors, like the well known NSAKEY one [1] in Windows. Apple also seem to have backdoors into encryption on both Mac and iOS [2].
If you want your data to be reasonably secure against someone who casually steals it then they're fine but if you want to be secure against government employees, or even well connected corporations, then Apple & Microsoft solutions are not very useful.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSAKEY https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSAKEY
[2] http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57583843-38/apple-deluged-by-police-demands-to-decrypt-iphones/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57583843-38/apple-deluged-...
- Osmium 13y agoRegarding [2], it's not clear yet what Apple does here: it looks like they bruteforce the iPhones when requested by the relevant authorities (possibly using a custom bootrom) and specifically not via a backdoor. If there was a backdoor, presumably Apple wouldn't have a backlog of requests[3]. Though no one really knows, and presumably it's always possible Apple will intentionally compromise their security in future if they get tired of having to bruteforce all these phones. [3] http://www.informationweek.com/security/encryption/apple-iphone-decryption-backlog-stymies/240154842 http://www.informationweek.com/security/encryption/apple-iph...
- jcarney 13y agoThe key that the wiki mentions isn't for spying, its for verifying digital signatures on third party cryptography service provider packages. It was named as such because CSP packages that are exported outside of USA have to receive export approval, something the NSA performed. So the NSAkey was named because it was a digital signature proving that a package had either received proper review or didn't need it (If it was for US only). Not saying that NSA isn't spying, just that the key mentioned is not used for that purpose.