This order allows officials to view backups encrypted by anyone, not just those in the U.K.
Feb 7, 20254:01 PM EST
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The U.K. government has reportedly ordered Apple to create a ‘backdoor’ to allow officials to access encrypted iCloud backups, according to reports from The Washington Post.
The secret order, issued last month, is based on rights from the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Act from 2016, dubbed the Snoopers’ Charter. Officials have reportedly asked Apple for access to every user account (not just in the U.K.- worldwide), compared to just one specific account.
Apple introduced the Advanced Data Protection option in 2022, which encrypts all iCloud backups if enabled by the user. The end-to-end encryption in the option means that not even Apple can access the encrypted files.
The encryption has been a topic of concern for U.K. lawmakers and politicians, as they fear it allows people like criminals, terrorists, and child abusers to hide from law enforcement through the use of encrypted files, “End-to-end encryption cannot be allowed to hamper efforts to catch perpetrators of the most serious crimes,” according to a U.K. government spokesperson interviewed by The Verge.
The FBI and other U.S. government agencies have also expressed their concerns about end-to-end encryption but have started recommending it to protect against hackers. In 2024, the NSA and the FBI joined Australia and Canada in recommending end-to-end encryption for web traffic. The U.K. Didn’t join them.
Apple will reportedly respond to the order by not offering Advanced Data Protection in the U.K., but it still wouldn’t meet the demand for access to files shared globally.
If Apple grants the U.K. government access to encrypted files globally, other tech giants using file encryption (e.g. Google and Meta) would also be ordered to do the same. Google encrypts Android data by default starting in 2018, and Meta offers encrypted backups for its globally popular messaging service, WhatsApp. Both Google and Meta have reportedly told The Washington Post that they cannot, and will not, grant access to encrypted files even if ordered by law.
Source: The Washington Post, The Verge
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