Bill Goodwin

A secret order issued by the UK against Apple would be a ‘clear and egregious violation’ if it provides back door access to Americans’ encrypted data, says US director of national intelligence.

Earlier this month, over 100 cyber security experts, companies and civil society groups signed a letter calling for home secretary Yvette Cooper to drop demands for Apple to create a backdoor into its encrypted iCloud service.

Russia-backed hacking groups have developed techniques to compromise encrypted messaging services, including Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram, placing journalists, politicians, and activists of interest to the Russian Intelligence service at potential risk.

Over a hundred cyber security experts, companies and civil society groups have signed a letter calling for the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper to drop demands for Apple to create a back-door that would allow the UK government access to encrypted communications and data stored on Apple’s iCloud service. The letter follows disclosures this week that the Home Office has issued a secret order to Apple, requiring the company to give the UK access to all encrypted material stored by any Apple users anywhere in world on its cloud servers.  The Home Office’s intervention has raised alarm bells among members of congress in the US, who have raised concerns that the move will weaken the security and privacy of ordinary American citizens as well as government officials and government agencies that use Apple computers and iPhones for official business. Apple introduced its Advanced Data Protection for iCloud (APD) as an optional security feature in December 2022. It allows users to extend Apple’s end-to-end encryptio

Tech companies brace after UK demands back door access to Apple cloud Tech companies brace for more attacks on encryption The UK has served a notice on Apple demanding back door access to encrypted data stored by users anywhere in the world on Apple’s cloud service. Technology companies are bracing themselves for more attacks on encryption after the UK government issued an order requiring Apple to create a back door to allow security officials access to content uploaded on the cloud by any Apple phone or computer user world-wide. The government has used powers under UK surveillance laws to issue a secret order requiring Apple to provide the UK with the ability to access all encrypted material stored by any Apple users on its cloud servers anywhere in the world, the Washington post revealed.

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Police have arrested three men and one woman over their alleged role in distributing Sky ECC encrypted phones used by organised crime groups across multiple countries. The Dutch public prosecutors’ office confirmed that the suspects were involved in the distribution of encrypted phones supplied by Canadian technology company, Sky Global, to organised crime groups. Police have also seized €1.4 million in cryptocurrency and property. The suspects, who have not been named by Dutch prosecutors, are accused of running a criminal organisation and laundering the proceeds of crime by taking money from criminal organisations to supply encrypted phones. French, Belgian and Dutch police infiltrated services belonging to Sky ECC, the world’s largest cryptophone network, and decrypted millions of messages between June 2019 and March 2021, leading to the arrests of drug gangs in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Dutch police have used decrypted messages harvested from Sky ECC phones to bring hundreds of criminal c

Angus McCullough, who is leading a review into the police surveillance of journalists and lawyers in Northern Ireland, says victims will be informed if they were unlawfully spied on – subject to ‘legal constraints’

Europol wants examples of police investigations hampered by end-to-end encryption as it pressures tech companies to provide law enforcement access to encrypted messages.

The risk of conflict, growing protectionism, tariffs and trade wars, and growing regulation threaten to disrupt the supply chains of companies, including access to data centers and the ability to transfer data across borders. The World Economic Forum said today that experts, business leaders, and politicians are predicting a stormy, turbulent or unsettled outlook over the next two years. The annual meeting, which as the theme “a call to collaboration in the intelligent age”, is due to hear from world leaders including Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang. The UK’s embattled chancellor Rachel Reeves is also expected to attend the event.