{"id":8525,"date":"2025-03-06T10:35:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T10:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/uk-removes-encryption-advice-from-govt-sites\/"},"modified":"2025-03-06T10:35:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T10:35:57","slug":"uk-removes-encryption-advice-from-govt-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/uk-removes-encryption-advice-from-govt-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"UK removes encryption advice from govt sites"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/p>\n
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It appears that the U.K. government has discreetly removed encryption guidance from its official websites, just weeks after requesting backdoor access to encrypted data stored on Apple’s iCloud service.<\/p>\n

This change was discovered by security expert Alec Muffet, who noted in a blog post<\/a> that the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is no longer advising high-risk individuals to utilize encryption for protecting sensitive information.<\/p>\n

In October, the NCSC published a document titled “Cybersecurity tips for barristers, solicitors, and legal professionals,” which recommended the use of encryption tools, including Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP).<\/p>\n

ADP enables users to turn on end-to-end encryption for their iCloud backups, making it impossible for anyone, including Apple and government authorities, to access the stored data.<\/p>\n

The original URL hosting the NCSC document now redirects to a different page<\/a> that does not mention encryption or ADP, instead suggesting that at-risk individuals use Apple’s Lockdown Mode, an extreme security tool that limits access to certain functions and features.<\/p>\n

According to Muffet, the original document, still accessible via the Wayback Machine<\/a>, has been completely deleted from the internet. Upon searching, TechCrunch was unable to find any encryption advice on the U.K. government’s website.<\/p>\n

The U.K. Home Office and NCSC have not responded to TechCrunch’s inquiries regarding this matter.<\/p>\n

The removal of encryption advice comes after the U.K. government ordered Apple to create a backdoor<\/a> to access users’ encrypted iCloud data.<\/p>\n

Following this order, first reported by The Washington Post<\/a>, Apple removed its ADP feature in the U.K. and confirmed<\/a> to TechCrunch that the feature will no longer be available to new users in the U.K. and existing users will eventually need to disable it.<\/p>\n

Apple is challenging<\/a> the U.K.’s data access order in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), as reported by The Financial Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Source Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It appears that the U.K. government has discreetly removed encryption guidance from its official websites, just weeks after requesting backdoor access to encrypted data stored on Apple’s iCloud service. This…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[69,143,1494,2727,338],"class_list":["post-8525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-apple","tag-cybersecurity","tag-encryption","tag-ncsc","tag-security"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/apple-csam-encrypted.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}