Home Office issues new UK-focused demand to Apple to break cloud encryption
01/10/2025 | Financial Times
The UK government has reportedly issued a new, narrowly defined demand that Apple create a backdoor to access its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) iCloud encryption for British users. The latest move comes after the government was forced to back down from its previous attempt to gain global access that sparked a diplomatic row with the US. The Home Office's latest Technical Capability Notice (TCN), issued under the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), stipulates that the order applies only to data belonging to UK citizens.
The earlier demand issued in January prompted Apple to withdraw its ADP cloud storage offering from the UK market. Apple confirmed on Wednesday that it remains unable to offer ADP to new UK users and expressed grave disappointment, stating: "We have never built a back door or master key to any of our products or services and we never will."
Privacy campaigners argue that forcing Apple to compromise its encryption for the UK could still endanger the personal information of customers worldwide. Caroline Wilson Palow of Privacy International warned that if Apple breaks end-to-end encryption for the UK, it will break it for everyone, creating a vulnerability that can be exploited by criminals and hostile states globally.
Due to legal restrictions, both the Home Office and Apple are prevented from confirming the existence of TCNs.
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