The UK government appears to have quietly withdrawn its encryption advice from government websites just weeks after it demanded backdoor access to encrypted data stored on Apple’s cloud storage service, iCloud.
The change was spotted by security expert Alec Muffet, who wrote in a blog post on Wednesday that the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is no longer recommending that high-risk individuals use encryption to protect their sensitive information.
In October, the NCSC published a document called “Cybersecurity Advice for Lawyers, Solicitors and Legal Professionals,” recommending the use of encryption tools such as Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP).
ADP allows users to enable end-to-end encryption for their iCloud backups, effectively making it impossible for anyone, including Apple and government agencies, to view data stored in iCloud.
The URL that hosted the NCSC document now redirects to a different page that doesn’t mention encryption or ADP. Instead, it recommends that at-risk individuals use Apple’s Lockdown Mode, an “extreme” security tool that restricts access to certain features and functions.
Muffet reports that the original document, which is still accessible via the Wayback Machine, has been “completely removed from the internet.” TechCrunch was unable to find the encryption advice on the UK government’s website.
The encryption advice was removed weeks after the UK government secretly ordered Apple to build a backdoor that would give authorities access to encrypted iCloud user data.
In accordance with the order, which was first reported by The Washington Post, Apple has removed its ADP feature in the UK and confirmed to TechCrunch that the feature will no longer be available to new users in the UK, and that current users will eventually have to disable it.
This week, The Financial Times reported that Apple is challenging the UK’s data access decision at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT).
