FBI is Not Thrilled About Apple’s New Encryption Services

Apple's new encryption system to ward off hackers and protect iCloud Data backups and other services

Apple has planned to significantly expand its end-to-end data encryption services. Apple's new encryption will close a privacy loophole that previously allowed law enforcement to access a wide-reaching swath of data, including photos and messages, stored in user iCloud accounts.

The expanded Apple's new encryption system, an optional feature called Advanced Data Protection, would keep most data secure that is stored in iCloud, an Apple service used by many of its users to store photos, back up their iPhones, or save specific device data such as Notes and Messages. Apple's new encryption is deeply concerning and the data would be protected in the event that Apple is hacked, and it also wouldn't be accessible to law enforcement, even with a warrant.

While Apple's encryption with advanced data protection has drawn attention in the past for being unable to help agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to access data on its end-to-end encrypted iPhones, Apple has been able to provide much of the data stored in iCloud backups upon a valid legal request. Last year, it responded to thousands of such requests in the U.S., according to the company. With these new security enhancements, Apple will not have the technical ability to comply with certain law-enforcement requests such as for iCloud backups—which could include iMessage chat logs and attachments and have been used in many investigations. 

The company said Apple's new encryption with advanced data protection, which was announced Wednesday, is designed to protect Apple customers from the most sophisticated attackers. "As customers have put more and more of their personal information of their lives into their devices, these have become more and more the subject of attacks by advanced actors," commented Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, in an interview. Some of these actors are going to great lengths to get their hands on the private information of people they have targeted, he added.

The FBI said it was "deeply concerned with the threat end-to-end and user-only-access encryption pose," according to a statement provided by an agency spokeswoman. "This hinders our ability to protect the American people from criminal acts ranging from cyberattacks and violence against children to drug trafficking, organized crime, and terrorism," the statement said. The FBI and law enforcement agencies need "lawful access by design," it said.