“There is still encryption on Apple devices, things like iMessage and other on-device data encryption still exist, but now data specifically stored in iCloud (which has a huge number of users) will be accessible to Apple and potentially government agencies through legal requests,” he said.
The UK government’s push for data access which led to Apple withdrawing a security tool from the UK has made users “less secure”, experts have said.
The tech giant said on Friday it was withdrawing an opt-in feature called Advanced Data Protection (ADP) from its iCloud service in the UK, which increased the amount of personal data protected by end-to-end encryption, which no-one beyond the account holder – not even Apple – can access.
Encryption expert Matthew Hodgson, chief executive of secure communications firm Element, said Apple’s decision to remove ADP from the UK was because it did not want to create a “master key” which could be used to break its encryption tools.
Professor Oli Buckley, a professor in cybersecurity at Loughborough University, said Apple’s “concession” on the issue meant UK user data could be more at risk from government data requests.
