As of 10 a.m. (ET) today, Apple is no longer offering new users in the UK the chance to enable Advanced Data Protection. Essentially, anyone who now wants to enable the feature to protect their data against criminal or state surveillance or exfiltration will no longer be able to do so.
The move appears to be a direct response to the foolish and supremely dangerous demand by the UK government to undermine personal data security on an international scale. The UK used its Investigatory Powers Act to demand Apple secretly break encryption protecting data held in iCloud with the creation of a backdoor into that data. Rather than comply, Apple has instead switched off the encryption.
Advanced Data Protection (ADP) gives Apple’s users end-to-end encryption across nine iCloud data categories that are not otherwise so encrypted, These include iCloud Backup, iCloud Drive, Photos, Notes, Reminders, Safari Bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts, Voice Memos, Wallet Passes and Freeform. Other iCloud categories, including iCloud Keychain, Health, and iMessage, will remain encrypted.
