Encryption maintained during iCloud sync?

[SFF]

First I’d like to say that I really like the new visuals in v3–I like the new graphics, colors, and textures.  The whole app feels much more polished–bravo!

 

Regarding the new iCloud sync, since I would obviously have to decrypt the database in order to open the app and initiate the sync, is the database re-encrypted during the sync?  i.e., is the database encrypted while being sent to and from iCloud?

 

I am considering purchasing the Mac app so I don’t have to maintain a separate list of passwords in my desktop (and just sync them via the iPhone app), but I want to make sure the data is encrypted throughout the entire synch process.

 

Thanks!

[Brendan]

Hi SFF,

 

If your database is encrypted on the iPhone, it won’t be encrypted on the Mac unless you either backup from the iPhone and restore to the Mac or you setup encryption yourself on the Mac. I would suggest before you do a restore to the Mac that you set your encryption key first. You would need to set it to be the same value as you have on the iPhone. Again, that’s only if you do a restore. If you get the data over to your Mac by using iCloud sync, then initially the data won’t be encrypted. But you can easily turn on encryption to encrypt the database. The encryption keys can be different on your Mac and on your iPhone. It’ll just all work.

 

Now you must be wondering if the data stored in iCloud is encrypted or not. Yes, it is. Each time you tap the sync button in Tap Forms, it creates an encrypted file and uploads that to iCloud. Then, the other devices download that encrypted file and merge the changes with the local database. If the local database is encrypted, then it will still be encrypted after the sync.

 

Hope that explains it a bit.

 

Thanks,

 

Brendan

[simononline]

I would just like to clarify the status with encryption related to the above post. I already had an encrypted tap forms database running on my iPhone and was slightly surprised by the results when I tried to install the iPad version. My steps were:
1) Switched on iCloud Sync functionality on my encrypted iPhone Tap forms app.
2) Purchased and installed the iPad version of the Tap Forms App.
3) Enabled iCloud sync on the iPad and completed an iCloud sync.
4) The iPad was then running an unencrypted version of my data with no prompt for password.
This suggests that the version of encryption used when storing data is not the same as the one I enter to access Tap Forms. It is also automatically decrypted when it is downloaded to any Apple device on my account. Is this correct? Anyone who gained access to my ITunes account could download this data unencrypted without need for my Tap Forms password.

[Brendan]

Hi Simon,

In order for someone to be able to get a copy of your database unencrypted, they would have to know your Apple ID and password. I would hope that you would keep that protected and out of access from anyone.

When Tap Forms uploads its data to iCloud, you would have had to enter the encryption key in order for it to read your database. So someone would have to know your encryption key to start that process. Then, Tap Forms generates separately encrypted files that get uploaded to iCloud. When you add a new device, Tap Forms downloads those files and processes them by applying any changes in the files to the local database. If that local database is unencrypted, then the data will be unencrypted. The only way to download that data is to know your Apple ID and password.

So what you want to do either before or after you’ve synced with iCloud is to setup encryption on the new device again. You can use a different encryption key on each device if you like.

Hope that helps explain it a bit.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Author]

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