adamparent - FotoliaNewsUS intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard probes UK demand for Apples encrypted dataA secret order issued by the UK against Apple would be a clear and egregious violation, if it provides backdoor access to Americans encrypted data, says US Director of National IntelligenceByBill Goodwin,Computer WeeklyPublished: 26 Feb 2025 21:34 The US presidents most senior advisor on intelligence and security has warned that any attempt by the UK to require tech company Apple to create a backdoor that would allow the UK access to the encrypted data of Americans would be a clear and egregious violation.The US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, said in a letter published today that she shared concerns raised by Congress over reports that the UK has issued an order against Apple that could undermine Americans privacy and civil liberties.Her intervention comes three days after Apple announced that it would no longer provide UK smartphone and iPad users with its Advanced Data Protection service, which allows users to encrypt their data on Apples iCloud.Apple made the move following disclosures that the UK was seeking access to encrypted data stored on Apples iCloud service anywhere in the world.In a letter to senator Ron Wyden of Colorado and representative Andy Biggs of Arizona, Gabbard disclosed that she had not been informed of the order either by the UK government or Apple and had only learned about it in the media.The UK.s Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, also known as the Snoopers Charter, which I understand would be at issue, allows the UK to issue a gag order, which would prevent Apple or any company from voicing their concerns with myself, or the public, she told Wyden and Biggs.Gabbard, the recently appointed US Director of National Intelligence, acts as the executive head of the US intelligence community, which includes the CIA, the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies. She is also the principal advisor to president Donald Trump on intelligence matters.In a move likely to raise tensions between the UK and the US just as prime minister Keir Starmer arrives in Washington for a high profile meeting with the US president, Gabbard said that she shared concerns that such a move by the UK would open up a serious vulnerability for cyber exploitation by adversarial actors.Senator Wyden and representative Biggs, who sit on opposite sides of the political divide in Washington, wrote to Gabbard asking the administration to kick the UK out of the 65-year-old UK.-USA Five Eyes signals intelligence sharing agreement if the UK does not withdraw the demand to Apple, Computer Weekly reported on 13 February.Gabbard told the two politicians that she had directed her counterparts in the intelligence community at the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency to provide insights regarding the publicly reported actions of the UK and that she would subsequently engage with UK officials.She said she had directed a senior intelligence officer to work with her departments Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy, and Transparency and Office of Partner Engagement to assess the implications of the UK compelling a US company to create a back door that would allow the UK government to retrieve private content.Gabbard had also asked lawyers to provide a legal opinion on the implications of the UK.s reported demands against Apple on the bilateral agreement between the UK and the US under the US Cloud Act which allows law enforcement reciprocal access to data held in each country for fighting serious crime.Upon initial review of the US and UK bilateral Cloud Act Agreement, the United Kingdom may not issue demands for data of US citizens, nationals, or lawful permanent residents nor is it authorized to demand the data of persons located inside the United States, she wrote.Any information sharing between a governmentany governmentand private companies must be done in a manner that respects and protects the US law and the Constitutional rights of US citizens, the letter adds.I look forward to ensuring the UK government has taken necessary actions to protect the privacy of American citizens, consistent with the CLOUD Act and other applicable laws, irrespective of any press reporting, she said.While the US intelligence relationships with foreign partners are of vital importance to US national security, Gabbard said that her obligations as Director of National Intelligence include protecting both the security of our country and the God-given rights of the American people enshrined in the US Constitution.Computer Weekly previously reported that Wyden and Biggs who first raised concerns about Apple with Gabbard, are on opposite sides of the political divide.Wyden is a liberal democrat who has campaigned for healthcare and the environment; Biggs is a loud Trump supporter and a noted organiser of the MAGA squad. Wyden, from Oregon, serves on the Senate Intelligence and Finance Committee; Biggs, from Arizona, chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance. They argue that weakening American cybersecurity is particularly shortsighted following Chinas Salt Typhoon hack of US phone networks, which included tapping president Trump and vice president Vances calls.US Security officials have advised Americans to use encrypted services to secure their calls, texts, and other communications against foreign hackers and criminals, in response to the Chinese attack.Wyden and Biggs urged Gabbart to re-evaluate US-UK collaboration on cybersecurity and intelligence sharing if the UK did not immediately reverse its position.The bilateral US-UK relationship must be built on trust. If the UK is secretly undermining one of the foundations of US cybersecurity, that trust has been profoundly breached, they wrote in a letter to Gabbard on 13 February.They cite a report by the UK Parliaments intelligence oversight committee in 2023, which found that the UK gained more from sharing intelligence with the US, than the US gained from sharing intelligence with the UK.The report stated the UK benefits greatly from a mutual presumption towards unrestricted sharing of [Signals Intelligence] between the US and UK and that [t]he weight of advantage in the partnership with the [National Security Agency] is overwhelmingly in [the UK.s] favour, according to their letter.The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, served Apple with a Technical Capability Notice, in January, ordering it to provide the government with back door access to material stored by Apple users on its encrypted cloud service.The notice, first reported by the Washinton Post, was issued under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. It is a criminal offence for a technology company to reveal the existence of any technical capability notice served against it.The Investigatory Powers Act, gives powers to the government to issue Technical Capability Notices to remove or modify electronic protection applied by tech companies to communications data, under Section 253, part 5(c).In The Current Issue:An action plan for net zero compatible with budget constraintsWhat is Dunelm doing for women in tech?Download Current IssueF5 AppWorld 2025: Day #1 keynote & live show report CW Developer NetworkSLM series - Syndicode:How to use the right (model) tool for the job CW Developer NetworkView All Blogs