In response to a U.K. government inquiry about access to data sequestered on Apple devices, Cupertino has removed access to the Advanced Data Protection encryption feature from U.K.-held devices.
“We have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will,” an anonymous Apple representative wrote in a statement emailed to TechRepublic.
UK wants law enforcement to be able to access data on individual devices, sources claim
In early February, the Home Office invoked the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016 to request a way to access the encrypted data held under Apple’s Advanced Data Protection. The Washington Post broke the news based on anonymous sources, saying the information was discussed in secret. The Investigatory Powers Act gives law enforcement and intelligence personnel provisions for harvesting data. The U.K. government has not issued a statement confirming or denying the situation. Stating that the government has invoked the act is itself a criminal offense.
SEE: Apps without contact information for their developers have been pulled by Apple from the EU App Store to comply with the Digital Services Act.
According to the BBC, the government would have to follow a legal process to access such data, and would likely use it to target individuals already under investigation instead of wide swaths of the population.
Advanced Data Protection is Apple’s most rigorous privacy measure
Data stored under Apple’s Advanced Data Protection offers the highest level of protection the company provides, keeping information hidden even from Apple itself. Users have to sign up for Advanced Data Protection as an extra step on top of Apple’s default security measures. According to The Washington Post’s initial article, “most” Apple device users don’t sign up for Advanced Data Protection.
If a U.K. user has not already signed up for Advanced Data Protection, they will not be able to as of February 21, Apple said. Instead, those users will see a message: “Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users.”
Apple said existing users will need to disable the feature manually to continue using iCloud. More guidance for those users is forthcoming.
Other end-to-end encrypted applications and services from Apple, such as iCloud Keychain, Health, iMessage, and FaceTime, will not change.
