Apple today released security updates for iOS devices, Apple TV, and Xcode to address multiple vulnerabilities, some of which could allow attackers to execute code with system privileges or cause an unexpected application termination.
Updates available include:
• iOS 8 for iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch 5th generation and later, and iPad 2 and later
• Apple TV 7 for Apple TV 3rd generation and later
• Xcode 6.0.1 for OS X Mavericks v10.9.4 and later
Users and administrators are encouraged to review Apple security updates HT6441, HT6442, and HT6444 and update your devices accordingly.
In a new Privacy Policy, Apple cant share your iOS 8 data with law enforcement agencies.
In a separate news, with the release of iOS 8, Apple has also updated its Privacy Policy. The new privacy policy doesnt allow Apple to share your details from your device running on iOS 8 even with a warrant. The reason is that it's impossible for Apple to extract information protected by the passcode set by the user, as they will no longer keep the encryption keys created with the selection of the passcode.
"The changes were made predominantly to cover new features in iOS 8, or to provide additional information on current use of data such as your date of birth or information you’ve provided about others," the company explained in the introduction to the new Privacy policy.
Tim Cook, Apple CEO took to Apple website to post his message :
A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realize that when an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. But at Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn’t come at the expense of your privacy.
Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.
One very small part of our business does serve advertisers, and that’s iAd. We built an advertising network because some app developers depend on that business model, and we want to support them as well as a free iTunes Radio service. iAd sticks to the same privacy policy that applies to every other Apple product. It doesn’t get data from Health and HomeKit, Maps, Siri, iMessage, your call history, or any iCloud service like Contacts or Mail, and you can always just opt out altogether.
He concluded by saying that the company has never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of their products or services, and that they have also never allowed access to our servers and that they don't plant to, ever.
The website also gave information about how it deals with data access requests form Government agencies.
"The most common requests we receive for information come from law enforcement in the form of either a Device Request or an Account Request," the company explained, adding that their legal team carefully reviews each one.
"On devices running iOS 8, your personal data such as photos, messages (including attachments), email, contacts, call history, iTunes content, notes, and reminders is placed under the protection of your passcode," they explained.
"Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data. So it's not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8."
However the twist in the privacy is that Apple has to share whatever data that is stored on iCloud if demanded by law enforcement agencies.
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