UK Home Office renews push for Apple iCloud access
British officials have issued a fresh technical capability notice targeting Apple’s iCloud backups, reigniting a standoff over encrypted data. This move comes just weeks after public declarations suggested the government had abandoned its pursuit of a backdoor, signaling that the UK remains intent on compromising end-to-end encryption for domestic users.
The Home Office served the new mandate in early September, specifically focused on the iCloud backups of British citizens. This follows a secret order from January that sought a global backdoor, which Apple challenged by disabling its Advanced Data Protection feature within the UK. The conflict appeared to pause in August when US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claimed the UK had rescinded the mandate following pressure regarding the Cloud Act.
Despite that diplomatic intervention, the latest notice suggests the Home Office is undeterred. Reports from the Financial Times indicate that senior British officials now believe they are no longer under significant US pressure to retreat from their demands. Apple, which has consistently resisted efforts to undermine its security architecture, has not yet issued a formal response to this latest regulatory escalation.
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