Kazmarek

Free Site Analysis 1-858-952-5400
REMOTE ASSISTANCE
  • Home
  • OnGoing Management
  • IT Services
    • Microsoft 365, Exchange Services, and Consulting
    • Cloud Solutions
    • Virtualization
    • Mobility
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • Server Installation/Migration
    • VoIP
    • Network & System Administration
    • Additional Solutions
  • Why Kazmarek
    • Case Studies
    • Testimonials
    • KTS Values
  • For Clients
    • O365 Log In
    • Client Portal
    • KTS Documents
    • SonicWALL VPN Client
  • News
    • Newsletters
  • Who We Are
    • Company
    • Team
    • KTS E-Award Winners
    • KTS Values
    • Charities We Support
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • Careers

Issue No. 108August 2021

Apple Software Change Raises Privacy Concerns

As some of you have undoubtedly heard, Apple Computer announced a new security measure for their popular iOS platform (the operating system that runs on iPhones) that has many privacy advocates more than a little concerned. At a fundamental level, Apple has said that they will be checking photos stored locally on an iPhone that has iCloud backup enabled against known images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Violations of this check will then be verified by a human, and if found to be something concerning, forwarded along to law enforcement.

On its face, this probably seems like a good idea. Indeed, law enforcement agencies are resoundingly behind the move. In truth, Apple is a bit late to the party in some respects. Other image hosting behemoths, like Google and Amazon have been performing similar checks against photos uploaded to their cloud services for a long time now. The critical difference here, and what has privacy advocacy groups concerned, is that Apple is performing those same checks at the device level. Before we go further, it is important to explain a bit of technical detail behind how these checks happen, and to do that, we need to understand a little bit about how computers deal with images.

In order to represent an image, a computer is given a set of instructions. These instructions tell the computer how to render the image by telling it what color to make the tiniest pieces of the photo, called pixels. A simple example would be having a computer display an image of a candy cane—to do this you would tell it to make red bits that alternate with white bits, how many of each of those sections, how wide they are, etc. Now, say you’ve taken two hundred pictures of your business’ logo, and you want your computer to eliminate duplicates. This is a task that, while monotonous is trivial for a human to accomplish, but can be quite difficult for a computer. This is where something called hashing enters the picture.

Think of a hash as a fingerprint for an image. It doesn’t necessarily allow a computer to reconstruct an entire image from the hash, but the computer can use the hash derived from two different images to say whether the two images are the same. In order to check to see if an image is CSAM, image hosting providers check uploaded images against known hashes of CSAM content. If the hash matches, the image is flagged for human review.

You may be thinking to yourself now: nothing wrong with that! On its face, that statement is correct, and most people certainly don’t take umbrage with content providers utilizing this technology to protect children from predators. Where things become concerning, however, is when you change where that hash check process occurs. Apple has indicated that this scanning will take place locally on users phones. That means the initiation of a potentially exploitable backdoor into a user device where none existed before. Additionally, some privacy advocated have raised the ‘slippery slope’ specter and cited U.K. internet service providers as their example. Some years ago, the United Kingdom rolled out a similar program to all of their internet service providers. While the hash check process was initially scoped to only check for CSAM images, it has since been expanded to look for images of things like counterfeit watches.

In the end, Apple is a private company that manufactures both the device and the operating system that will utilize this new image scanning system. They believe they are within their rights to make these types of changes to end-user devices. The modern era is one in which many, if not most, people value their privacy highly. Enabling a feature on someone’s phone that can potentially give an outside party access to that device is concerning, even if it is well intentioned. It is important that consumers make informed choices, including the types of information they willing provide to the companies that manufacture our beloved mobile devices. Something that seems innocent on the surface level can evolve into a privacy concern.

Article written by KTS Operations Manager, Tristan Collopy

Testimonials

Testimonials

“We’re building a solid IT foundation to be able to go where we need to be for growth and success. I couldn’t be more pleased with KTS’s performance and progress on our IT Projects.”

Shawn Ellis, CFO Custom Logos

Testimonials

“Both company email migrations have were completed without a problem. Thanks to your team both transitions went smooth.Everyone with your group are both knowledgeable and professional, and you should be proud of the organization you are building.”

John Sonnen, IT & Security Director Child Safety Network

Testimonials

“We have been using KTS for our IT support for about a year now, and we are very pleased with the service we have received. Chris has been our first line person, and has been able to resolve issues quickly, and often remotely, which helps reduce costs. Our staff has really appreciated his fast response and resolution to the issues that have come up. We have also appreciated that there are other folks at KTS who can fill in if Chris is out. Thanks to all!”

Suzy Halleland, Executive Administrator Village Church

Testimonials

“I think you know we have been very happy with your service and are very grateful to have been referred to you guys. But on a more personal note, I want you to know that Kevin in your office has provided a service for us that is way over the top.”

Jeff Golumbuk, CEO Custom Logos

Testimonials

“I just wanted to thank you and your staff for the excellent service and work provided by KTS.  It has been night and day compared to our old third party IT consultant.”
Nick Walters, VP Project Management West Coast General Corp.

Testimonials

“I wanted to let you know that I am absolutely delighted with the service we have received from you and your team so far. I know we put you in a tough position with such short notice of having to jump in and take over, and we really appreciated that. But there are many other reasons as well. First, I’m so glad they discovered the hard drive problem right away, as that could have caused us a huge issue as you well know. Second, everyone that I’ve had the pleasure to work wi… Read more
Jo Barsa, CPA Barsa & Company

Testimonials

“Kazmarek is fantastic!  I’ve used every size of IT company over the past 20 years and Kazmarek is by far superior to all I’ve used.  We are extremely happy with their service and expertise.  One of the things I like most about them is that they have engineers available to respond to our prioritized needs but they also wanted to give us the best customer service possible so they went above and beyond and put in place an escalation plan so that if I feel the response time i… Read more
Marisa Janine-Page, Partner Caldarelli Hejmanowski Page & Leer LLP

Testimonials

“I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Kazmarek team through the years! They are responsive and have a great team to work with, whether it’s day-to-day IT needs or special projects. ”
KC Martin, HR Director Full Swing Golf

Testimonials

“As a local San Diego business, we were looking to partner with another local business after our IT needs just weren’t being met with a nationwide provider. We could not be happier with our decision since KTS has been very swift, attentive, and collaborative with our IT needs over the past three years. Their engineers, support desk, and managers are patient and able to effectively communicate issues and solutions to a layperson which speaks volumes about their hiring and customer… Read more
Carrie Lamb, Project Manager Chuao Chocolatier

When Was Your Last Backup?

When Was Your Last Backup?

If you don’t know, you’re not alone.
Find out more

Join Our Newsletter

Join Our Newsletter

Free On-Site Analysis

Free On-Site Analysis

Contact us to receive a 1-hour complimentary evaluation.
Learn more here.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyrights: © 2022 Kazmarek. All rights reserved.

Designed by TinyFrog & N Halie Designs