# Apple advances user security with powerful new data protections

**URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/apple-advances-user-security-with-powerful-new-data-protections/10778
**Category:** General
**Tags:** article
**Created:** 2022-12-08T02:23:57Z
**Posts:** 19
**Showing post:** 4 of 19

## Post 4 by @jonah — 2022-12-08T14:27:52Z

Lots of important gotchas here. Don’t get me wrong, this is great, but there are definitely drawbacks to be aware of. The main one being their use of [**convergent encryption**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_encryption) for file deduplication:

> Some metadata and usage information stored in iCloud remains under standard data protection, even when Advanced Data Protection is enabled. For example, dates and times when a file or object was modified are used to sort your information, and checksums of file and photo data are used to help Apple de-duplicate and optimize your iCloud and device storage — all without having access to the files and photos themselves.

“[Standard data protection](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303)” here means that the data is protected with a key Apple controls, not end-to-end encrypted. For example, the following metadata is not end-to-end encrypted with files in iCloud Drive:

- **The raw byte checksums of the file content and the file name**
- Type of file, when it was created, last modified, or last opened
- Whether the file has been marked as a favorite
- Size of the file
- Signature of any app installers (.pkg signature) and bundle signature
- Whether a synced file is an executable

This is actually extremely significant metadata. With checksums and file names available, an attacker only needs the original file to determine whether you have a copy. Sure, if your files are unique they wouldn’t be readable, but this is something to keep in mind if it’s in your threat model.

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