BRITS will lose access to a powerful iPhone security feature designed to protect you from spying.
It comes after the UK government demanded access to the private data of iPhone owners.
5
5
The feature is called Advanced Data Protection, and it’s meant to keep your iCloud back-ups safe.
iCloud is where your photos, videos, and texts are stored as back-ups – so if you ever lose or upgrade your iPhone, you can restore them on the new one.
This is some of the most private info an iPhone owner can have, so protecting it is especially important.
With Advanced Data Protection switched on, the contents of your iCloud back-ups are encrypted.
That means no one else but you can see them. Even Apple can’t view them, which means it can’t share them with the police or spies.
Apple says that the feature is meant to protect you, and that building a backdoor into the setting would put users at risk from hackers.
Now to comply with the Government, Advanced Data Protection will have to be removed.
That means anything that you’ve got stored in iCloud that would benefit from Advanced Data Protection will no longer be encrypted with the feature switched off.
Any of the unencrypted info can be accessible by Apple, and ultimately shared on to police with a warrant.
The tech giant says it’s “gravely disappointed” that the feature has been removed for Brits.
“Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users and current UK users will eventually need to disable this security feature,” Apple explained in a statement.
“ADP protects iCloud data with end-to-end encryption, which means the data can only be decrypted by the user who owns it, and only on their trusted devices.
“We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy.
“Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before.
5
“Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom.
“As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will.”
WHEN IS THE SWITCH-OFF?
The feature is unavailable from British iPhones as of 3pm on Friday, February 21.
If you haven’t switched Advanced Data Protection on, you’ll no longer be able to do so.
Instead, the following message will apear: “Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users.”
It means the following data types won’t be protected:
- Anything in iCloud Backup, including stored messages
- iCloud Drive
- Photos
- Notes
- Reminders
- Safari Bookmarks
- Siri Shortcuts
- Voice Memos
- Wallet Passes
- Freeform
If you’ve already got Advanced Data Protection turned on, it’s unclear what will happen.
Apple can’t disable the feature automatically for you.
5
It’s understood that Brits will be given time to disable the feature themselves to keep access to their iCloud account.
WHAT IS ADVANCED DATA PROTECTION?
Advanced Data Protection, or ADP, is an Apple safety feature.
It launched back in December 2022 in the USA, and made its way to Britain in early 2023.
Many iPhone users will be backing up their data to iCloud.
WHAT DOES ADVANCED DATA PROTECTION KEEP SAFE?
So what does Advanced Data Protection protec
If you have Advanced Data Protection turned on, all of the following data types are fully end-to-end encrypted in iCloud…
- Cloud Backup (including device and Messages backup)
- iCloud Drive
- Photos
- Notes
- Reminders
- Safari Bookmarks
- Siri Shortcuts
- Voice Memos
- Wallet passes
- Freeform
- Passwords and Keychain
- Health data
- Journal data
- Home data
- Messages in iCloud
- Payment information
- Apple Card transactions
- Maps
- QuickType Keyboard learned vocabulary
- Safari
- Screen Time
- Siri information
- Wi-Fi passwords
- W1 and H1 Bluetooth keys
- Memoji
If you have Advanced Data Protection turned off, only the following 14 data types are protected by end-to-end encryption…
- Passwords and Keychain
- Health data
- Journal data
- Home data
- Messages in iCloud
- Payment information
- Apple Card transactions
- Maps
- QuickType Keyboard learned vocabulary
- Safari
- Screen Time
- Siri information
- Wi-Fi passwords
- W1 and H1 Bluetooth keys
- Memoji
Picture Credit: Apple / The Sun
That means it’s stored on servers away from the iPhone so if you lost your handset or upgraded to a new model, you wouldn’t lose anything.
Lots of stuff is kept in iCloud, like the texts you send over iMessage or the snaps in your Photos app.
Some of this data will be extremely personal, so you’d want to keep it safe.
Advanced Data Protection is a way to do that, by scrambling the data with encryption.
It means that there’s no way for anyone other than the account holder to view that data.
So unless someone can log in as you, the data can’t be seen.
Even if someone hacked into Apple’s servers, they’d just see a jumbled mess of data rather than your private info.
It also means that Apple can’t see the data – like texts, pics, videos, and emails – even if it wanted to.
EXPERT REACTION – ‘DANGEROUS’
Here’s an expert view from Dray Agha, senior manager of security operations at Huntress…
“Apple’s decision to pull Advanced Data Protection in the UK is a direct response to increasing government demands for access to encrypted user data,” Dray explained.
“Weakening encryption not only makes UK users more vulnerable to cyber threats.
“But also sets a dangerous precedent for global privacy.
“Governments argue this helps law enforcement, but history shows that any backdoor created for one party can eventually be exploited by bad actors.
“The broader concern is that this move could pressure other companies to weaken their security, putting personal data worldwide at greater risk.”
Picture Credit: Apple / The Sun
And as a result, Apple can’t hand that data over to the Government, police, or spies.
WHY IS ADP DISAPPEARING FROM IPHONES?
It’s linked to a Government request for access to the data on iPhone owners by Apple.
This data is encrypted, which means Apple and the Government couldn’t previously access it.
But the Home Office is understood to have used the Investigatory Powers Act to force Apple to hand over info to law enforcement.
5
Apple said that it wouldn’t create a backdoor in the feature for the Government.
So instead, Apple has opted to remove the feature entirely.
“Whenever a ‘backdoor’ exists for one purpose, like law enforcement, there’s always a risk it will be exploited for more malicious purposes,” said Professor Oli Buckley, a Professor in Cyber Security at Loughborough University
“A key factor of end-to-end encryption is that only the communicating parties have the ability to decrypt the content.
“And introducing any special access not only weakens trust in the system, it can also provide an attack vector for cybercriminals.
“Ultimately, once a door exists, it’s only a matter of time before it’s found and used maliciously.
“Removing ADP is not just a symbolic concession but a practical weakening of iCloud security for UK users.”
To see your Advanced Data Protection settings, unlock your iPhone and go to Settings > iCloud > Advanced Data Protection.
HOW DOES APPLE RESPOND TO LEGAL REQUESTS?
Here’s the official note from Apple…
“Apple receives various forms of legal process requesting information from or actions by Apple,” Apple explained.
“Apple requires government and private entities to follow applicable laws and statutes when requesting customer information and data.
“We contractually require our service providers to follow the same standard we apply to government information requests for Apple data.
“Our legal team reviews requests to ensure that the requests have a valid legal basis.
“If they do, we comply by providing data responsive to the request.
“If a request does not have a valid legal basis, or if we consider it to be unclear, inappropriate, or overly broad, we challenge or reject the request. We report on the requests every six months.
“We’ll continue working for greater transparency and data security protections on behalf of our customers.
Apple has never created a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services.
“We have also never allowed any government direct access to Apple servers. And we never will.”
Picture Credit: Apple
