Two years after Apple introduced encrypted storage capabilities for iPhone users, the company complies with government requests to create tools to enable law enforcement to access cloud data from its customers Rather than bringing out the security protections of the UK.
Starting Friday, iPhone users in the UK will begin to display messages on their phones that Apple is no longer able to provide advanced data protection. This feature allows users to encrypt almost everything about their iCloud data, allowing them to read messages, notes, photos, and iPhone backups, even when information is stored in a cloud computing center.
Apple is removing the feature after the UK government created a backdoor to the company that would allow intelligence reporting and law enforcement officials to retrieve iPhone user data from data centers around the world. Anonymous state due to the sensitive nature of the British government's demands.
The government's request came in a secret order earlier this year after amending its 2016 investigative powers.
Last year, Apple protested amendments to its submission to Parliament, saying it could empower the UK government to break cryptographic services and issue secret orders to create backdoors for software products.
By eliminating this feature, people said Apple hopes that the UK government will remove the request to create a backdoor to users' cloud data. However, it argues that the UK government could continue to seek its access and that those who could use service abroad pose a threat to the UK's interests.
“We are extremely disappointed,” Apple spokesman Fred Sainz said in a statement. He said advanced data protection provided UK customers with protection against hacking and security breaches.
“As I've said many times before, we've never built a back door or a master key for any product or service.
There was no immediate statement at our UK home office.
The Washington Post previously reported on the UK government's demands.
Apple's advanced data protection elimination will revert clocks back to the amount of data for iPhone users that UK authorities can access. Before its implementation, Apple refused to help law enforcement unlock the iPhone, but fulfilled requests for iCloud backups that contain unencrypted messages and photos.
The gap in Apple's encryption in data centers has enabled law enforcement to obtain confidential messages in well-known cases. In the US, law enforcement officials were able to request an iCloud backup of Paul Manafort, chairman of President Trump's 2016 campaign. This request allowed us to access Manafort's WhatsApp messages.
For years, Apple has resisted fully encrypting iCloud data. Because we want to make it easier to get information if a customer is locked out of their account. However, as data breaches around the world increase, the company moved to expand its encryption offering in 2022 with advanced data protection. This feature is optional and must be turned on by the user.
The clash between Apple and the UK government is reminiscent of a 2016 battle with the Federal Bureau of Investigation over access to the iPhone used by the attacker who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California in 2016. The FBI wanted Apple to unlock the attacker's iPhone, but Apple refused. The government ultimately gained access with the help of hacking companies.
Since then, Apple has sold the device more private than its competitors, and has promised that what it has on the iPhone will remain on it. The company aired a commercial showing surveillance cameras last year. Surveillance cameras are common on UK streets, looking at people's shoulders while looking at their phones. When an iPhone user opens the Safari browser, the camera explodes.
The view on encryption has changed throughout the US government after a recent refined US communications violation. During last year's election, a hacking operation linked to the Chinese government by a Salt-era group targeted the devices of his running buddies, Trump and JD Vance. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has since urged smartphone users to use encrypted communication systems.
“Cryptocurrency is the glue and mortar that holds the bricks of our digital life together,” says Joseph Lorenzo, a well-known engineer at the Internet Association, a nonprofit advocating for internet infrastructure. Hall said. “This will not only lead to collapse, but also to a catastrophic collapse.”
