Apple enables encryption to iCloud backups

Apple has introduced new security features  to protect  user data in the cloud, including end-to-end encryption for backups for iCloud users.

Along with end-to-end encryption for iCloud, also introduced iMessage Contact Key Verification, allowing users to verify they are communicating only with whom they required

Apple also announced hardware Security Keys for Apple ID, giving users the choice to require two-factor authentication to sign into their Apple ID account. The Advanced Data Protection, iCloud encryption capabilities include in those categories of protected data will be backups, Contacts, Notes, Photos, Voice Memos, and Wallet Passes. Previously, covered only to more sensitive data, such as passwords in iCloud Keychain and personal health data.

Though this feature is not supported in iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendar because they’re needed “to interoperate with the global email, contacts, and calendar systems.

Advanced Data Protection for iCloud is available in the US today for members of the Apple Beta Software Program and will be available to all US users by the end of the year. The feature will start rolling out to the rest of the world in early 2023. iMessage Contact Key Verification will be available globally in 2023, with Security Keys for Apple ID available globally in early 2023.

Through Security Keys, users can choose third-party hardware security keys create a two-factor authentication scheme.

Apple said the enhanced data security features for iCloud are needed to thwart data loss. The number of data breaches more than tripled between 2013 and 2021, exposing 1.1 billion personal records across the globe in 2021 alone.