Apple Looks to Protect Data with “Safe Deposit Box”

Based on a recent patent filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Apple has plans to imitate a bank safe deposit box with a digital version designed to protect sensitive data.

A post from AppleInsider.com provides a detailed look at how the patent application describes the potential data security measure. Basically, the “safe deposit box” would be a folder or partition specifically designated for secure storage. Files that dragged to the safe deposit box would have additional security measures in place and require user authentication to access–a’ la verifying one’s identity and providing the necessary key in order to access a bank safe deposit box.

But, imagine if your bank somehow duplicated your sensitive and priceless possessions from your safe deposit box, and stored the copies in another safe deposit box at another bank as an added precaution? Well, Apple plans to do that as well. Files stored in the safe deposit box will be automatically copied to secure storage in the cloud.

Conceptually, it sounds nice. But, like most approaches to data protection the Achilles heel is the user. The success or value of an approach like this relies on the user’s ability to determine what data is important or sensitive, and the user’s execution to make sure the data gets stored in the right folder.

Assuming a user with the ability and willingess to follow through, the safe deposit box seems like a reasonable method of data protection.