Apple appeals against UK government’s demand for backdoor access to iCloud backups

Apple has filed a lawsuit against the British government over its demand that a backdoor be built into iOS devices to access users’ iCloud backups.

iCloud backups aren’t encrypted by default, meaning Apple and intelligence agencies could theoretically access this information. To make these backups inaccessible for everyone except the users themselves, Apple has a security feature called Advanced Data Protection (ADP). But in order to work, users have to enable this feature.

Last month, The Washington Post and the BBC reported that British authorities had given Apple a so-called Technical Capability Notice (TNC), stating that the company must provide access to end-to-end encrypted iCloud backups.

Because of this order, Apple decided to pull the security feature for new users in the United Kingdom.

“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,” the company said in a statement.

Anonymous sources have told the Financial Times that Apple is going to put up a fight to overturn the UK government’s order. The Cupertino-based tech company has filed an appeal with the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.

The tribunal is an independent judicial body that handles complaints against British intelligence agencies and will assess the legality of the government order. The case may be heard later this month, but will probably take place behind closed doors due to national security concerns.

The requirement for an iCloud backdoor is also under investigation in the United States. Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, has announced an investigation into possible violation of the CLOUD Act by the UK government.

“Our intelligence relationships with foreign partners are of vital importance to our national security, however, my obligations as Director of National Intelligence include protecting both the security of our country and the God-given rights of the American people enshrined in the U.S. Constitution,” Gabbard recently wrote in a letter addressed to Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ).