UK Government Demands Apple Weaken iCloud Security by February 2025

The British government has demanded that Apple weaken the security of iCloud for users worldwide by February 2025. In response, Apple has disabled Advanced Data Protection (ADP) for users in the UK, a feature that provides end-to-end encryption for most user data. The UK government is using a controversial power from the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016 to force Apple to add a "backdoor" to ADP, allowing authorities to access user data. This measure could have global repercussions, as other countries might demand the same compliance. Additionally, once the backdoor is created, it could be exploited by hackers, as was the case in Greece in 2004 and by China in 2024. This situation could also impact other end-to-end encryption systems like Google, WhatsApp, and Signal.