Apple File System (APFS) was announced last night by the Apple company for the customers of its products, those from Cupertino presenting this software as being scalable from Apple Watch to Mac, but also as being much more secure than other similar systems for managing files.
Apple File System (APFS) is specially designed for Flash/SSD storage media and is superior to HFS+, data encryption being the basis of its development, all starting from the dispute between Apple and the FBI regarding the decryption of an iPhone used by a terrorist.
The Apple File System (APFS) has as its predecessor HFS+, this together with HFS being over 30 years old, the Apple company considering that security must be based on file management systems that are new and capable of doing what users need .
Apple has a technical description of the Apple File System (APFS) on this page, for those interested to read it, but in OS X it allows individual encryption of files from Macs, each with its own decryption key, the meta data of the system being encrypted by a new technology.
According to Apple, the new Apple File System (APFS) is so good at encrypting data that it generates multiple encryption keys that ensure data security even when the storage medium has been compromised, so we're talking about a very complex system which will give the FBI a lot of trouble.
Apple File System (APFS) is to be released in 2017 by the Apple company, but it will only be compatible with macOS 10.12 Sierra.
Security and privacy are fundamental in the design of the Apple File System.
On OS X, Full Disk Encryption has been available since OS X 10.7 Lion. On iOS, a version of data protection that encrypts each file individually with its own key has been available since iOS 4, as described in iOS Security Guide. APFS combines both of these features into a unified model that encrypts file system metadata.
APFS supports encryption natively. You can choose one of the following encryption models for each volume in a container: no encryption, single-key encryption, or multi-key encryption with per-file keys for file data and a separate key for sensitive metadata. APFS encryption uses AES-XTS or AES-CBC, depending on hardware. Multi-key encryption ensures the integrity of user data even when its physical security is compromised.
