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Chinese authorities detain Apple employees suspected of selling customer data

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Re: Chinese authorities detain Apple employees suspected of selling customer data

#51

Post by zepto »

pawadu wrote: post #41
microtonal wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like? On mobile, the only realistic alternative is Android, which is a privacy and security nightmare. On general purpose computers, Linux is better from the perspective of privacy. But for large parts of the general population, Windows is the only realistic alternative. And we know how important privacy is to Microsoft these days :(.

> Android, which is a privacy and security nightmare Only if your only source of information about Android is WWDC keynotes. But did Phil Schiller tell you about the Korean "malware" that was very quietly purged from App Store last week?

How may android botnets are there, and how many devices infected?

Huw many iOS?

Re: Chinese authorities detain Apple employees suspected of selling customer data

#52

Post by mnem »

pawadu wrote: post #41
microtonal wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like? On mobile, the only realistic alternative is Android, which is a privacy and security nightmare. On general purpose computers, Linux is better from the perspective of privacy. But for large parts of the general population, Windows is the only realistic alternative. And we know how important privacy is to Microsoft these days :(.

> Android, which is a privacy and security nightmare Only if your only source of information about Android is WWDC keynotes. But did Phil Schiller tell you about the Korean "malware" that was very quietly purged from App Store last week?

I suspect most privacy problems come down to the apps on the users device for both platforms, but in terms of security Android is worse overall because of the abysmal rate of updates, and lack of widespread backing store encryption. That leaves a lot of Android devices open to shady apps and data loss after theft.

Both platforms can always do better of course, and should learn from each other. But to pretend device security hasn't been a genuine focus for Apple is blinkered.

Re: Chinese authorities detain Apple employees suspected of selling customer data

#53

Post by microtonal »

pawadu wrote: post #41
microtonal wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like? On mobile, the only realistic alternative is Android, which is a privacy and security nightmare. On general purpose computers, Linux is better from the perspective of privacy. But for large parts of the general population, Windows is the only realistic alternative. And we know how important privacy is to Microsoft these days :(.

> Android, which is a privacy and security nightmare Only if your only source of information about Android is WWDC keynotes. But did Phil Schiller tell you about the Korean "malware" that was very quietly purged from App Store last week?

Only if your only source of information about Android is WWDC keynotes.

Don't be silly. Google's own dashboard shows that the vast majority of devices are running old versions of Android with known security vulnerabilities:

https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html

Besides that, most likely >99% of the users are using a device with Google Play Services and other Google applications. It is no secret that Google mines pretty much all data available for advertising purposes (as outlined in their privacy policy).

Moreover, most Android devices use no or weak device encryption. The Google App Store has a rich history of applications slurping all kinds of data (though things will probably get better with fine-grained permissions).

And then we haven't even talked about Asian and American vendors that 'accidentally' install third party spyware:

https://www.cyberscoop.com/android-malware-china-huawei-zte-...

Re: Chinese authorities detain Apple employees suspected of selling customer data

#55

Post by bo1024 »

carlmcqueen wrote: post #8

Hoping comments can resist the urge to turn this into an apple bashing thread. Having someone purposefully steal your data from the inside doesn't mean you don't care about privacy. They likely won't reveal anything but I'm curious how they could get the info out of Apple systems. Most companies of Apple's size lock down work stations to the point of slowing down workers efficiency to keep customer data safe. Especia…

> Having someone purposefully steal your data from the inside doesn't mean you don't care about privacy.

True, Apple cares much more than average. It shows that our current tech world has such a poor emphasis on privacy that even the companies that care most still screw up big.

Re: Chinese authorities detain Apple employees suspected of selling customer data

#56

Post by SCHiM »

mmjaa wrote: post #43
valuearb wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not technological negligence to allow customers the means to access their own data if they forget their password. it's common sense.

It's technological negligence if you set out to protect customers privacy, but your employees decide to steal it anyway, because they can.

In the end, this is a problem with _all_ cloud services that do more than just _store_ data. If it does anything with your information at all then it's possible for an insider to look at it.

Re: Chinese authorities detain Apple employees suspected of selling customer data

#57

Post by strict9 »

Darthy wrote: post #24

Apple does not allow your iOS iCloud data to be encrypted in a manner where Apple cannot access it. As is alluded to in this article. Privacy advocates and privacy caring IT specialists have repeatedly asked Apple to offer such an option, but so far Apple has decided that regular people would turn such an option on, forget their password, then ask Apple for help and would be unhappy with their brand experience if App…

There are alternatives, but with more friction and fewer features. My iPhone backups are made to an encrypted disk locally and backed up offsite with Backblaze, also encrypted.

Have never used iCloud for the reasons you mention, and haven't missed it.

Re: Chinese authorities detain Apple employees suspected of selling customer data

#58

Post by daxorid »

microtonal wrote: post #31
dagenleg wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just use different OS then

Like? On mobile, the only realistic alternative is Android, which is a privacy and security nightmare. On general purpose computers, Linux is better from the perspective of privacy. But for large parts of the general population, Windows is the only realistic alternative. And we know how important privacy is to Microsoft these days :(.

Like?

You use your iPhone but disable iCloud.

If photos are important to you, use a dedicated camera and upload to your home NAS.

Re: Chinese authorities detain Apple employees suspected of selling customer data

#59

Post by zepto »

mmjaa wrote: post #43
valuearb wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not technological negligence to allow customers the means to access their own data if they forget their password. it's common sense.

It's technological negligence if you set out to protect customers privacy, but your employees decide to steal it anyway, because they can.

By that argument, all theft is negligence.

Re: Chinese authorities detain Apple employees suspected of selling customer data

#60

Post by TallGuyShort »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #4
jcrei wrote: post #3

Oh snap. And Apple has been touting itself as the champion of privacy in comparison with Google, Facebook and Microsoft... This doesn't look good for them

Even the NSA has leakers.

And if the NSA championed themselves as the defenders of privacy, how hard would you roll your eyes?
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