UK Authorities Demand Back Door Access to iCloud Backups Globally

The British government secretly demanded that Apple provide him with access to all encrypted user content loaded into the cloud, reports The Washington PostField

They say that an unsolved order was issued last month and demands that Apple create a back door that allows the British Security Service to unprofessed access to encrypted user data around the world – unprecedented demand, was not previously seen in which another democratic country.

Apple, most likely, will stop offering an encrypted storage in the UK, and not violate the promises of security that he gave to his users, people who are familiar with this issue reported publications. Nevertheless, this will not affect the order of Great Britain to access services in other countries, including the United States. Earlier, Apple stated that she would consider the issue of getting services such as Facetime and Imessage from the UK, and not to jeopardize future security.

The order came through a “technical notice of capabilities”, a document sent by Apple by the Minister of Internal Affairs, ordering it to provide access in accordance with the generally accepted law on the provisions of the UK investigation (IPA) of 2016. Critics called him “the charter of Snuoper,“ since this is authorized by law enforcement agencies to attract assistance from companies when it is necessary to collect evidence.

The representative of Apple refused to comment on the revelation, although the law actually makes a criminal offense to show that the government even presented such a requirement. Similarly, the Ministry of the Interior reported the publication that its policy should not discuss any technical requirements. “We do not comment on operational issues, including, for example, confirmation or refusal to exist any notifications,” the representative said.

One of the people informed about the situation, the consultant advising the United States on encryption, said that Apple will be forbidden to warn its users, that his most advanced encryption no longer ensures complete security. The person believed that the UK government requires Apple’s assistance to spy on non -British users without knowledge of their governments. The former White House security consultant confirmed the existence of the British Order.

The order will jeopardize the expanded Apple data protection function, which the company launched in 2022, providing users with the opportunity to enable through encryption for many additional categories of iCloud data, including photographs, notes, voice memos, backups of messages, backups of devices, and more.

IPA was updated in 2023 to allow the Ministry of the Interior to ban certain encrypted services using a notification of technical capabilities. At that time, Apple called the proposed amendments to an “unprecedented revaluation from the government”, saying that if the update was accepted, “the UK may try to secretly impose a veto to protect new users around the world, not allowing us to offer them to customers.”

Note. From a political or social nature of discussion on this topic, the discussion is the topic is at our political news forum. All forum participants and visitors can read and monitor the topic, but the publication is limited by the forum participants with at least 100 messages.