Apple Admits Encrypted iPhone Personal Data Can Be Extracted From 'Trusted' Computers

Apple Inc. acknowledged on Friday that backup encrypted texts, photos and contacts can be extracted from iPhone by anyone with knowledge of extraction techniques, like Apple employees and law enforcement, Reuters reported.

Anyone who wants access to that information just needs access to a computer that a user has “trusted” with data from his or her iPhone. Apple says it’s only for diagnostic purposes, so “enterprise IT departments, developers and Apple [troubleshooters]” can access your phone’s technical data, and isn’t a security issue.

“A user must have unlocked their device and agreed to trust another computer before that computer is able to access this limited diagnostic data,” Apple said. “As we have said before, Apple has never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services.”

The issue was revealed by a self-proclaimed “hacker” and security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski last week at the Hackers on Planet Earth conference in New York City. He says law enforcement or people with malicious intent could access the data in the same way an Apple “Genius” would access it.

He calls it a security “back door,” but insists he’s not accusing Apple of “anything malicious” or of “working with the NSA,” but that the flaw is there and could be used by someone seeking personal information.

One Twitter user who appears to “jailbreak” iPhones, or unlock them from Apple software limitations, expressed his disapproval of Zdziarski’s reveal, saying he was “giving away all the secrets!”

Read Zdziarski’s full Powerpoint presentation from Hackers on Planet Earth via his website, here. Warning, lots of technical speech.