UK government officials reportedly ordered Apple to secretly build a backdoor that would allow authorities to access their encrypted iCloud data.
The Washington Post reports that demand was issued in January 2016 of the UK's Research Power Act, also known as the Snoopers Charter. Rather than seeking narrow access to specific Apple accounts, authorities have requested “blanket” access to end-to-end encrypted files uploaded to the cloud by users around the world .
According to the post, Apple may suspend advanced data protection, which is the provision of encrypted cloud storage to UK users. That access does not provide UK authorities with backdoor access to encrypted files in other countries, including the US.
Apple didn't answer TechCrunch's questions immediately, but it has previously warned that creating so-called backdoors for law enforcement will expose users' personal data to hackers.
In an emailed statement to TechCrunch, Pooja Mehta, a spokesman for the UK Department of Home Affairs, said: