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An encryption with a backdoor known by anybody is not secure. That is just a fact of life. Every single encryption that has had such a back way in has been compromised by the bad guys. Just knowing one exists guarantees they will find it, either by dint of exertion or coercion, it will be compromised.

Apple uses 256bit Advanced Encryption Standard which has but a single key to unlock any data which is so encrypted. Using all the computing power currently available on Earth, it would take 156 times longer than the universe has existed to try just half the possible keys for just one Apple iPhone by brute force! A mathematician calculated the energy required to run the computers to crack just one 256bit AES encryption would exceed the energy available in the universe when entropy was considered in the calculation. . . and that was based on trying two billion keys per second. . . and, no, a really really fast Quantum computer wouldn’t improve things, not at these scales of time. —PING!

Much as I like and revere President Trump, there are some things that just cannot be done. Changing the laws of math is one of them. Apple can’t do it unless they have some clue about the terrorist’s AppleID and passcode. Then they may be able to help. If not, then the law of large numbers is going to block Apple just as much as it does the FBI and the NSA.

Apple Security Ping PING!

If you want on or off the Apple/Mac/iOS Ping List, Freepmail me.

One of the issues concerns the symmetric key used to gain access to the asymmetric private key providing the advanced protection on the device. The private key is on the device. And the private key doesn’t necessarily need to be password protected by a thumbprint or 6 digit code. I can definitely see the case where the private key is also encrypted in a secondary store using a complex factory method. The private key may also be stored off the device to gain access to iCloud data should it be necessary. Many ways for Apple to skin the cat.

Perhaps you could re-explain for us iPhone and Mac users what is and what isn’t protected by passwords on our iPhones and Mac.

Especially those files that are shared in iCloud (which I think Apple can get at?) vs those stored only on the iPhone or on a Mac.

(off the top of my head, iOS Notes is the only Apple-made iOS app that actually gives the user the choice to store certain notes only on the phone vs shared on the phone and Mac via the icloud account.