Out of the box: iOS 17.6.1, iPadOS 17.6.1 and macOS 14.6.1 available
The activation of extended data protection for iCloud could fail with previous versions. Apple therefore added updates on Wednesday evening.
(Image: Shahid Jamil / Shutterstock.com)
On Wednesday evening, Apple released emergency patches to fix a bug that had crept into the latest operating system updates from the end of July. The so-called Advanced Data Protection could apparently no longer be activated or deactivated as desired with macOS 14.6, iOS 17.6 and iPadOS 17.6.1. This instructs Apple's servers to encrypt more data end-to-end than is offered by default.
A switch problem
macOS 14.6.1, iOS 17.6.1 and iPadOS 17.6.1 solve this problem. "This update contains important bug fixes and fixes a bug that prevents Advanced Data Protection from being enabled or disabled," says Apple in its package insert. It is unclear how the error occurred. According to the company, only "a small number of users" were affected. There was a clearly visible error message when activating it, but not when deactivating it - the interface then looked as if it had been deactivated, but Advanced Data Protection remained active in iCloud. After installing macOS 14.6.1, iOS 17.6.1 and iPadOS 17.6.1, users are informed to check whether the deactivation has actually taken place.
In addition to its current operating systems, Apple has also published macOS 13.6.9, iOS 16.7.10 and iPadOS 16.7.10; these also appear to contain the aforementioned fix and were therefore also affected by the bug. The updates do not contain any other security-related bug fixes. Extended data protection has also caused problems with updates in the past; however, this was not a specific bug like this one.
What extended data protection can do
Extended data protection ensures that Apple keeps less data in a form that the company can decrypt itself. This includes backups for iCloud, iCloud Drive, photos and much more. If you value your privacy, activate the service.
Apple had previously received a lot of criticism that the company had a "duplicate key" for this data, as the company encrypted it on its servers but had the corresponding key. You can read how the system works in a heise+ article.
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