Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

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

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.…

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.…

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.…

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.…

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.…

No matter how deep you are in Apple's 'ecosystem,’ there are ways to stay encrypted in the UK Apple customers, privacy advocates, and security sleuths have now had the weekend to stew over the news of the iGadget maker's decision to bend to the UK government and disable its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature.…

PLUS: SEC launches new crypto crime unit; Phishing toolkit upgraded; and more Infosec in brief Apple has responded to the UK government's demand for access to its customers’ data stored in iCloud by deciding to turn off its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) end-to-end encryption service for UK users.…

Blighty’s latest stab at encryption? A secret order to pry open iCloud, sources claim The UK's Home Office refuses to either confirm or deny reports that it recently ordered Apple to create a backdoor allowing the government to access any user's cloud data.…

Draft doc struggles to describe how theoretically encryption-busting powers might be used The UK government has set out plans detailing how it will use the new law it has created to control online platforms and social media – with one telling exception.…

NATO, United Nations, US DoD, and French government among its customer base Element, one of the companies behind decentralized comms platform Matrix, says customers are asking it to insert a protective clause from the encryption-busting element of UK government's Online Safety Bill (OSB).…

Not the iPhone maker's first think-of-the-children rodeo Apple has joined the rapidly growing chorus of tech organizations calling on British lawmakers to revise the nation's Online Safety Bill – which for now is in the hands of the House of Lords – so that it safeguards strong end-to-end encryption.…

Plus: Signal, WhatsApp, and Viber also write online protest over Online Safety Bill back door The UK’s chartered institute for IT has slammed proposed legislation that could see the government open a “back door” to encrypted messaging.…

Any sufficiently stupid technology is indistinguishable from magical thinking Opinion Around the world, a vital technology is failing. Just as massive solar flares fry satellites and climate-change superstorms overwhelm flood defences, so a new surge of ridiculous IT-related events is burning out irony meters across the globe.…

Making the business case for email encryption Webinar Every now and again the dangers of using personal and unencrypted email services makes it to the top of the news agenda. It happened to Hilary Clinton in the States, and it's been all over the front pages in the UK following the resignation of British Home Secretary Suella Braverman after she used her personal email account six times for government business.…

Security expert challenges claim that bypassing encryption is essential to protecting kids Exclusive Laws in the UK and Europe have been proposed that would give authorities the power to undermine strong end-to-end encryption in the pursuit of, in their minds, justice.…