The UK government demanded Apple create a back door on users’ encrypted iCloud accounts to retrieve the content any Apple user has uploaded to the cloud, The Washington Post reports.
According to people familiar with the matter, the UK government requested access to the company’s encryption technology in January. However, it doesn’t want help accessing a specific account or data but to be able to access anyone’s data anytime and anywhere.
With that in mind, The Post reports that Apple might stop offering encrypted storage in the UK, as it doesn’t plan to comply with this secret demand. While the Cupertino company can appeal this order, the law doesn’t let Apple delay complying during an appeal.
Last year, when the company discovered this requirement could be coming soon, it told the UK Parliament: “There is no reason why the UK should have the authority to decide for citizens of the world whether they can avail themselves of the proven security benefits that flow from end-to-end encryption.”
That said, Cupertino’s best option could be to stop offering Advanced Data Protection to iCloud users in the UK. While the iCloud backup would mostly remain encrypted, this extra layer of protection wouldn’t be available in the region.
This function was announced at the end of 2022. With Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, which you have to manually enable, you can access more services with end-to-end encryption, such as backup, Notes, and Photos. Previously, only 14 categories had E2E, and now 23 do.
Currently, the only major iCloud data categories not covered are Mail, Contacts, and Calendar. Apple says this because they need to “interoperate with the global email, contacts, and calendar systems.”
“Advanced Data Protection is Apple’s highest level of cloud data security, giving users the choice to protect the vast majority of their most sensitive iCloud data with end-to-end encryption so that it can only be decrypted on their trusted devices,” said Ivan Krstić, Apple’s head of Security Engineering and Architecture.
BGR will let you know as we learn more about these possible changes in the UK.
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