Apple recently announced that all its data is being stored in the Google cloud severs. The complete data storage for iCloud Services is done in the Google’s cloud servers. All the files are being stored in the third party storage services. There is no specified information on which type of iCloud data is stored on Google’s servers. But as per the new document, it can be well stated that Google Cloud reference from the document.
This information was revealed when the last iOS security document was uploaded on their website. Also the previous versions of same document stated the use of Microsoft Azure which is a cloud platform again. But the point here is that Azure wasn’t mentioned in the document at all. Followed by this 2016 was the year when many rumours were spread stating, Apple is shifting their storage services from Amazon Web Services to Google Cloud platform. Apart from this, majority of the people are not really aware with when did Apple start using Google’s services.
Apple failed to state the type of iCloud data stored on Google’s Servers. A little bit of this information has been revealed in the new document and it tells us a little on how data is encrypted. All is states is, iCloud is capable enough of storing user’s contacts, documents, photos, calendars and lot more. The best thing about it is that it keeps the information updated throughout the device.
Not only this, iCloud can also be used by the third party apps to store and sync the data. To set up the iCloud, the users need to sign in with Apple ID and then they need to make a choice of services they wish to avail. iCloud is featured with various benefits like iCloud Drive, iCloud backup, My Photo Stream etc.
Now comes the encryption of the data, where each file is broken into chunks and encrypted by iCloud with the help of AES 128 and also a there is a chunk’s content which is involved in the utilization of SHA – 256 from this a key is derived.
All these keys and the metadata of the files are then stored in the user’s iCloud account by Apple. The encrypted chunks of file that lacks in having any sort of user identifying information are stored with the aid of third party storage services like Google Cloud Platform or S3. S3 here states the Amazon Web Services (AWS). In previous documents, S3 was stated as Azure Cloud computing services, but Azure has got no reference in the current document.
Apple has also stated that the use of third party cloud infrastructure is just a temporary situation, as Apple has been constantly working hard to increase the number of data centres all across the globe. Apple has recently opened a new data center in China which is handled and operated by their local partner. This center in China has started working on the process of shifting entire iCloud data to servers located within the country. This is being practiced for all the customers based in China.
