Following government requests for backdoor access to encrypted user data, Apple is immediately removing its Advanced Data Protection ( ADP ) feature for iCloud from the United Kingdom with immediate effect.
The growth was initially reported by Bloomberg.
An additional ADP environment is available for iCloud that allows users to set up trusted devices that only have entry to the encryption keys used to access data stored in its cloud. This includes mac Backup, Photos, Notes, Memories, Safari Bookmarks, words memos, and information associated with its own apps.
Given the ongoing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy, the company was quoted as saying to Bloomberg as saying,” We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK.”
” ADP protects mac data with end-to-end crypto, which means the data can only be decrypted by the person who owns it, and only on their trusted products”.
According to the report, users who are already using ADP will have to manually activate it for an” as yet unspecified period of time,” as per the report.
The extraordinary development comes just weeks after it was reported that Apple had been ordered by the U.K. government to create a backdoor to gain access to any mac content from an Apple user.
Per The Washington Post, the demand, issued by the U. K. Home Office under the Investigatory Powers Act ( ) aka the Snoopers ‘ Charter, “requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account”.
With the removal of ADP in the area, Apple then only offers standard data security for iCloud, which stores user data encryption secrets in its own data centers and makes it available to law enforcement with a permit.
Last year, U. S. Senator Ron Wyden and Member of Congress Andy Biggs a letter to Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, urging the U. K. to rescind its order, citing it threatens the privacy and security of both the American people and the U. S. state.
” If the U. K. does not instantly change this harmful effort, we urge you to reevaluate U. S. U. K. security agreements and applications as well as U. S. knowledge sharing with the U. K.”, they added.