The iMessage Cone of Silence
Our own Rich Mogull recently had the opportunity to sit down with senior members of Apple’s engineering and security teams, and he discovered that iMessage is even more secure than previously thought. In essence, every iMessage is encrypted from end to end, messages are encrypted using keys that exist only on your devices and are not stored with Apple, and messages are encrypted multiple times to maximize security. In addition, iMessage’s registration system is designed to inherently distrust Apple’s own servers, thereby making it extremely difficult for anyone to compromise iMessage’s security with so-called “phantom devices” that could be used to tap conversations. “Overall [iMessage is] a solid balance of convenience and security,” Mogull said.