After the basic iCloud discussion in this post, I would like to add some more technical information. The following items are just a loose compilation of facts about the mentioned controls which allow the restriction of iCloud usage. The basic iCloud usage, consisting of backup, document sync, and photo stream, can be deactivated using the most recent version of the iPhone Configuration Utility:
Since there are no default settings for these values, it is necessary to include the disabled entries in existing configuration profiles.
A few days ago (on 10/12/2011) Apple launched its new cloud offering which is called — who would have guessed 😉 — iCloud. Since we’re performing quite some research in the area of cloud security, we had a first look at the basic functionality and concepts of the iCloud. Its main features include the possibility to store full backups of Apple devices (at least, an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or a Mac running OS X Lion 10.7.2 is required), photos, music, or documents online. The data to be stored online is initially pushed to the cloud storage and then synchronized to any device which is using the same iCloud account. From this moment on, all changes on the cloudified data is immediately synchronized to the iCloud and then pushed to all participating devices. At this point, most infosec people might start to be worried a little bit: The common cloud concept of centralized data storage on premise of a third party does not cope well with the usual control focused approach of most technical infosec guys. The resulting concerns can be attributed to several main cloud computing related risks (which are proposed by ENISA and actually very valuable work:
