Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Encrypted messaging app warns device-level checks could be repurposed for censorship

The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) fined the LastPass password management firm £1.2 million for failing to implement security measures that allowed an attacker to steal personal information and encrypted password vaults belonging to up to 1.6 million UK users in a 2022 breach. [...]

New Investigatory Powers Act Request Reportedly Transmitted in SeptemberThe U.K. Home Office reportedly again ordered Apple to give it backdoor access to an encrypted cloud service after backing down in August from a similar demand made earlier this year. The order comes after a similar attempt by the Home Office in January.

US director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, stated that her government persuaded the UK to withdraw its controversial demand

Tulsi Gabbard Takes Credit After Apparent British Reversal of Backdoor RequestU.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced the United Kingdom has apparently reversed course on a demand for Apple to provide the government with a backdoor into its advanced iCloud encrypted protections following growing criticism from U.S. lawmakers and privacy advocates.

Tulsi Gabbard boasts Washington forced Blighty to drop iPhone encryption fight The UK government has reportedly abandoned its attempt to strong-arm Apple into weakening iPhone encryption after the White House forced Blighty into a quiet climb-down.…

Home Office officials reportedly concede Brit government on back foot as Trump moves to protect US Big Tech players Analysis The Home Office's war on encryption – its most technically complex and controversial aspect of modern policymaking yet – is starting to look like battlefield failure after more than ten years of skirmishes.…

Apple, US Took Hard Line Against British DemandThe U.K. government is reportedly set to reverse course on requiring smartphone giant Apple to give police access to device data stored as backups in the California company's cloud service. "The Home Office is basically going to have to back down," a British official said.

Company at center of findings blamed SEO on outsourcer A website developed for the UK Home Office's 2022 "flop" anti-encryption campaign has seemingly been hijacked to push a payday loan scheme.…

WhatsApp CEO Says UK Request Sets "Dangerous Precedent"Instant messaging app WhatsApp is seeking to join Apple's legal battle with the U.K. government over end-to-end encryption. Apple is challenging a Home Office order requiring the device maker to provide law enforcement with unencrypted copies of customer data.

WhatsApp CEO Says UK Request Sets "Dangerous Precedent"Instant messaging app WhatsApp is seeking to join Apple's legal battle with the U.K. government over end-to-end encryption. Apple is challenging a Home Office order requiring the device maker to provide law enforcement with unencrypted copies of customer data.

UK holds onto oversight by a whisker, but it's utterly barefaced on the other side of the pond Opinion The UK government's attempts to worm into Apple's core end-to-end encryption were set back last week when the country's Home Office failed in its bid to keep them secret on national security grounds.…

Independent Tribunal Rules That at Least 'Bare Details' of Case Can Be Made PublicThe British government has lost its bid to maintain "absolute" secrecy over its attempt to compel Apple to provide backdoor access to users' encrypted data, ruled Britain's independent Investigatory Powers Tribunal. Whether any further details will get released publicly remains unclear.

The UK government must be thrilled Google will soon offer end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) email for all users, even those who do not use Google Workspace, and says it'll do so without imposing any undue stress on IT admins.…

Cyber Agency Urges Critical Infrastructure Operators to Migrate Within the DeadlineThe British cybersecurity agency urged critical infrastructure operators to adopt to post-quantum cryptography by 2035 as it and other government agencies prepare for the inevitability of quantum computers capable of breaking current encryption algorithms.

National security defense being used to keep appeal behind closed doors US politicians and privacy campaigners are calling for the private hearing between Apple and the UK government regarding its alleged encryption-busting order to be aired in public.…

A first-of-its-kind legal challenge set to be heard this month, per reports Apple has reportedly filed a legal complaint with the UK's Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) contesting the UK government's order that it must forcibly break the encryption of iCloud data.…

Cut off one head and 100 grow back? Decapitation may not be the way to go Opinion With Apple pulling the plug on at-rest end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for UK users, and Signal threatening to pull out of Sweden if that government demands E2EE backdoors, it's looking bleak.…

Experts warned the UK’s recent 'victory' over Apple would kickstart something of a domino effect Signal CEO Meredith Whittaker says her company will withdraw from countries that force messaging providers to allow law enforcement officials to access encrypted user data, as Sweden continues to mull such plans.…

Withdrawal of Advanced Data Protection for British Users Could Have Global ImpactApple's decision to withdraw iCloud end-to-end encryption in the United Kingdom has privacy and security advocates worried that the British government could scan and surveil sensitive information of Apple users worldwide. Apple on Friday deactivated its Advanced Data Protection feature in the U.K.