Even in ongoing criminal proceedings, Apple has been reticent when investigators want to crack suspects' iPhones. So far, there was a detour via the backups in the iCloud. But in future they will also be encrypted to protect users from hackers.
iPhone maker Apple plans to significantly expand its data encryption practices - a move that is likely to raise tensions with law enforcement agencies around the world. The enhanced end-to-end encryption system, an optional feature called Advanced Data Protection, would shield most of iCloud data even in the event of a hack. At the same time, it would also prevent Apple from providing data from iCloud phone backups to law enforcement agencies.
In the past, Apple has been unable to help authorities like the Federal Bureau of Investigation access data on its encrypted iPhones, but has been able to provide much of the data stored in iCloud backups in response to a legal request. In the past year, the company claims to have answered thousands of such inquiries in the United States. With the new security measures, Apple would no longer be technically able to honor certain law enforcement requests, such as iCloud backups containing iMessage chat logs and attachments.
Apple said it wants to protect customers from increasingly sophisticated hacker attacks with the new data encryption practices. Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, said in an interview that customers have stored more and more personal information about their lives on their devices. Some hackers would go to great lengths to get the target's private information.
The dispute between Apple and especially the US authorities has been smoldering for years. In 2020, according to a Reuters report, the company abandoned plans to encrypt iCloud backups only after massive intervention by the FBI.
