Yesterday Reuters released a report about intentional flaws in the security of iCloud backups. DEVONtechnologies always had a focus on privacy and has published a short guide on how to keep data on iOS devices and Macs secure and private.
According to Reuters it seems that the backups iOS devices upload to iCloud are encrypted but not end-to-end. Sources say Apple has a secondary key that allows them top retrieve the backups even without the data owner's keys. Depending on the laws of the country of question, agencies could ask Apple to hand over the data without the device owner's knowledge.
For DEVONtechnologies, a customer's data always belongs to the customer alone. Their products, DEVONthink, DEVONagent, and DEVONsphere, even their freeware, don't collect any data that they don't need. They also never share customer data with anyone unless the customer explicitly tells them to do so. DEVONtechnologies uses a private installation of Matomo for analyzing anonymized website traffic, advocates using Ghostery or Pi-Hole for blocking trackers, and has closed their Facebook page.
To help its customers DEVONtechnologies has now published a short guide on their company blog that explains how to opt out of iCloud backups, encrypt data locally, and sync it securely between devices. Some of the tips specifically target DEVONtechnologies' document and information management applications, others deal with privacy in general and include using FileVault, saving sensitive files to secure disk images, and encrypting backups.
You don't need to be in a shady business to have data on your devices that you would like to keep to yourself. We have always believed that your data is yours and when you share it with the world you do so intentionally. Our products and services are designed around this principle.
Eric Boehnisch-Volkmann, President of DEVONtechnologies
DEVONtechnologies' privacy policy defines in easy to understand language what data the company or its application collect and for what purpose.
www.devontechnologies.com