Apple’s iCloud appears to have been holding on to users’ deleted internet browsing histories, including records over a year old.
Apple’s iCloud appears to have been holding on to users’ deleted internet browsing histories, including records over a year old.
Moscow-based forensics firm Elcomsoft noticed it was able to pull supposedly deleted Safari browser histories from iCloud accounts, such as the date and time the site was visited and when the record was deleted.
“In fact, we were able to access records dated more than one year back,” wrote Elcomsoft’s CEO Vladimir Katalov in a Thursday blog post .
Users can set iCloud to store their browsing history so that it’s available from all connected devices. The researchers found that when a user deletes that history, iCloud doesn’t actually erase it but keeps it in a format invisible to the user.
The company discovered the issue with its Phone Breaker product, a forensic tool designed to streamline the extracting files from an iCloud account.
