Requested backdoor to iCloud meets political resistance in the USA

Two US congressmen have called on the new US intelligence coordinator to prevent a backdoor to end-to-end encrypted iCloud data: If Apple is forced by the UK to integrate such a backdoor into its products, it would ultimately compromise the data of American users – including government agencies, the letter to Intelligence Coordinator Tulsi Gabbard states. This was reported by the Washington Post on Thursday.

The US government must not allow this under any circumstances, as it is ultimately "a foreign cyberattack carried out by political means". The authors of the letter are two important US congressmen – a Democrat and a Republican. If the UK does not withdraw the order, the US government should review the cybersecurity agreements between the two countries.

UK wants access to fully encrypted iCloud

The Washington Post reported last week that the UK had issued Apple with a secret order to integrate a backdoor into iCloud. This should allow law enforcement access to user data –, globally –, which is protected by end-to-end encryption. Other media, including the BBC and Financial Times, confirmed the report, citing their own sources. Apple is bound to silence under the Investigatory Powers Act and has not yet commented on the matter. The British government is also remaining silent.

iCloud data such as iPhone backups are not protected by end-to-end encryption by default. Apple can therefore decrypt the data and also disclose it to law enforcement agencies. The company logs the number of requests in a transparency report.

Apple now also offers the option of protecting such data with full encryption, which is linked to the user's device code – Apple also blocks this. However, this "extended data protection" must be activated manually. Neither iOS nor macOS clearly indicate this, and presumably only a small proportion of iCloud users have activated it to date.

Civil rights activists warn of secret order

The reports about the secret order caused quite a stir: Civil rights activists have already warned of an "unprecedented attack". Such a backdoor for end-to-end encryption would also motivate other governments to demand the same and thus completely undermine the protection it provides. Apple had vehemently warned against the extended powers of the Investigatory Powers Act in the UK and repeatedly affirmed that it would "never" want to integrate a backdoor into its products.

(lbe)