UK secret order demands worldwide iCloud backdoor

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(www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/02/07/apple-encryption-backdoor-uk/)

Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud..

The British government’s undisclosed order, issued last month, requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material..

The law, known by critics as the Snoopers’ Charter, makes it a criminal offense to reveal that the government has even made such a demand..

Could Apple Pull iCloud Services From the UK Market?

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windbg, NaNoNyMouse, Cybertooth

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This is why I don’t use services that automatically put my files in the cloud. As we say in my neck of the woods: MYOFB.

As part of my backup strategy, I do upload documents to the cloud—but only after encrypting them locally.

 

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windbg

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Cybertooth wrote:

This is why I don’t use services that automatically put my files in the cloud

iCloud backup (automatic or manual) has a setting for end-to-end encryption (Advanced Data Protection).

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windbg

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That is true at the present (thankfully!), but it may not be the case for much longer. From the article:

According to sources that spoke to the publication, Apple is likely to stop offering encrypted storage in the UK as a result of the demand. Specifically, Apple could withdraw Advanced Data Protection, an opt-in feature that provides end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for iCloud backups, such as Photos, Notes, Voice Memos, Messages backups, and device backups.

In this scenario, UK users would still have access to basic iCloud services, but their data would lack the additional layer of security that prevents even Apple from accessing it. In other words, UK users’ iCloud data would revert to standard encryption, allowing Apple to potentially access the contents of said data if it is compelled to do so by UK authorities when a warrant is issued.

 

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Alex5723

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Cellebrite, (a company based out of Israel known to have broken iPhone encryption) may disagree.

This normally isn’t an issue with small fry, but if the government is after you, there really isn’t a lot of protection out there.  The major companies have been told to put in backdoors (even the hard drives you use have sectors you can’t read…for a COUGH-NSA-COUGH reason).

I always presume that anything I put on the cloud can be read, despite any attempts to protect it.

https://www.bringingyourtechtolife.com/post/israeli-tech-company-can-unlock-all-iphones

 

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johnf wrote:

Cellebrite, (a company based out of Israel known to have broken iPhone encryption) may disagree.

No, it does not : Cellebrite can’t crack iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later

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Nothing inspires trust in one’s government like [secret] decrees to cripple core protection technology…

I don’t use AAPL, but still hope they don’t fold like other vendors have.

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Cybertooth

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I take the bait:

Lest one trusts the eyes of five foremost Anglo-Saxon liberal democracies–

Who should one trust ?

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