Bill Goodwin

National Cyber Security Centre says businesses should take action now as the number of nationally significant cyber incidents doubles.

Apple has agreed with the Home Office to drop its legal claim against a government order requiring it to provide intelligence and law enforcement with the capability to access encrypted data of Apple users worldwide. he Investigatory Powers Tribunal has ruled that the case will no longer proceed following a “change in circumstances,” according to court documents obtained by Computer Weekly.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has commissioned a senior lawyer to review whether there was any misconduct by police officers following an independent review that found police unlawfully monitored journalists’ phone data, but found no ‘widespread and systemic’ surveillance.

As EU member states prepare to vote on plans to mandate tech companies to introduce technology to scan messages before they are encrypted, Signal warns that Chat Control will create new security risks.

A second Home Office technical capability notice (TCN) requires Apple to provide access to encrypted data and messages of British users stored on its iCloud service.

A review of police surveillance of journalists, lawyers and NGOs has found that police in Northern Ireland failed to comply with legal provisions during surveillance operations. But the review by Angus McCullough KC, found there was no basis for concerns that surveillance of journalists and lawyers is “widespread and systemic”.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) apologises for failing to destroy data unlawfully seized from journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey despite a court agreement. It also apologised to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal for failing to disclose key information to the court.

The French supreme court has turned to the European Court of Justice to decide whether EU citizens have the right to challenge the legality of evidence obtained by French law enforcement by hacking the Sky ECC cryptophone network. The Cour de Cassation has asked the European Court of Justice to rule whether French law is in-line with European law. It comes after the French courts refused the right of a German citizen to appeal against the lawfulness of the French hacking operation in the French courts. The decision will have “significant consequences” for legal proceedings in the European Union against individuals who are charged with criminal offences based on evidence obtained by French police from hacking the Sky ECC and EncroChat encrypted phone networks. French, Belgian and Dutch police infiltrated servers belonging to Sky ECC, the world’s largest cryptophone network, and decrypted millions of messages between June 2019 and March 2021, leading to the arrest of drug gangs across Europe.

A lawyer representing Hamas in a legal case in the UK is challenging the legality of the seizure of his mobile phone after he was stopped and questioned by police. Welsh police stopped Fahad Ansari’s car at Holyhead Port after visiting relatives in Ireland. The solicitor was detained for nearly three hours after being stopped under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, which allows police to seize and copy electronic devices at UK borders without reason for suspicion.

The Security Service MI5 has admitted unlawfully spying on the phone of former BBC investigative journalist Vincent Kearney. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal heard today that the security service has made a last-minute concession that it unlawfully monitored the phone of the former BBC Spotlight reporter.