The Office of the Interior Secretary of the United Kingdom has allegedly asked Apple to provide a back door to any material that any user has uploaded to Icloud Worldwide, the Washington Post reported on February 7. Used for government surveillance.
Apple has not commented; However, in March, the company gave a statement to Parliament on the occasion of receiving a notice of a possible request, saying: “There is no reason why the United Kingdom [government] The authority must have to decide for the citizens of the world if they can take advantage of the proven security benefits that flow from extreme to extreme encryption. “
The United Kingdom government application falls under the Law of Application of Law 2016
The Interior Minister's Office acted under the United Kingdom investigation powers Law, which allows the police to force companies to comply with the demands of access if that access is part of a search for evidence. Specifically, the office attended Apple with a notice of technical capacity.
A consultant who advises the United States government on issues related to encryption called the “shocking” United Kingdom application, according to the Washington Post.
“If it is implemented, the directive will create a dangerous vulnerability of cybersecurity in the nervous system of our global economy,” said Meredith Whittaker, president of the non -profit organization of encrypted messaging, to the Washington Post.
See: Security professionals in the United Kingdom can see the new cyber attack classification system of Cyber Monitoring Center, but your information can be too broad and too late for practical use.
Advanced data protection is on fire again
The possible rear door means that the United Kingdom government could access the information loaded by personal and commercial users that implement Apple products, even if Apple cannot see that information due to encryption applied to some of its cloud storage. Specifically, the order would give the United Kingdom an opening in the information covered by Apple's advanced data protection, an optional security layer introduced in 2022.
If the United Kingdom obtains its rear door, Apple could close the advanced data protection service.
The FBI under the first administration of President Donald Trump protested by the protection of advanced data for similar inaccessibility reasons why the United Kingdom is now looking to avoid. On the other hand, technological companies such as Apple claim that a rear door would be used by criminals or by authoritarian governments against their citizens.
Advanced data protection for ICLOUD is available for Apple users at no additional cost. It can be configured using a contact or recovery key on a standard authentication of two apple factors.
“The majority of Apple users do not activate advanced data protection, said Washington Post.
