Apple pulls privacy protections from the UK

Follows government demand for encryption backdoor

Apple has pulled its highest level of data protection from UK consumers after a row with the government.

While tech companies often threaten to leave countries over new regulations, Apple had made no such comments after the government told the company it was required to create a backdoor in its encrypted cloud service – so its decision to scrap its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) service came as a surprise this afternoon.

Apple’s decision stemmed from a government order issued in January under the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act (IPA).

Security officials wanted the ability to retrieve encrypted content uploaded to Apple’s iCloud – something even the company itself cannot do, because of the ADP service.

Like messaging apps including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, ADP uses end-to-end encryption to prevent anyone other than the sender and receiver (or, in this case, data owner) from viewing content.

Apple has previously pushed back against any attempts to weaken encryption or bypass its protection measures, insisting that criminals would eventually find a way to exploit any weaknesses.

It even refused to unlock a terrorist’s phone for the US government in 2015.

However, the company has now decided the government’s order means it can no longer offer ADP in the UK. That means some UK customers’ data on the iCloud will no longer be end-to-end encrypted.

Tech market watchers share Apple’s view on weakened encryption, with Jake Moore of ESET commenting it is “inevitably only...a matter of time” before criminals exploit the change.

While only data owners could access information protected under ADP, Apple can access any iCloud data stored under standard encryption - and share it with law enforcement if they have a warrant.

Access to the ADP service, which was opt-in, was withdrawn at 15:00 today (Friday). Users attempting to turn it on were met with an error message.

Apple says existing users’ access will be disabled at a later date.

In a statement, the iPhone maker said, “Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end-encryption is more urgent than ever before.

"Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in future in the UK."