ORG welcomes Apple’s move to expand encryption

Open Rights Group welcomes Apple’s move to improve security with its Advanced Data Protection feature for iCloud. The feature allows additional sensitive files, such as photos and notes, to be encrypted in the cloud.

The feature has been available to Apple customers in the US using iOS 16.2, and is about to be rolled-out to customers in the UK.

Health Data, passwords in Keychain and iMessage are already encrypted E2E on the service.

Jim Killock, Executive Director of Open Rights Group said:

“Encryption keeps us all secure. It protects us from cyber criminals and keeps our messages private.

“Millions of people already use this type of technology on a daily basis on instant message services such as Signal, Element or WhatsApp.

“We are pleased that Apple is rolling out globally end-to-end encryption for iCloud backup-data, notes and photos. We look forward to UK customers gaining the same benefits.

“We hope other companies will look to roll-out similar services that prevent consumers from being victims of scams, revenge porn and blackmail attempts.

“Our government needs to support these improvements wholeheartedly.”

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Contact

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Open Rights Group (ORG) is the leading UK-based digital campaigning organisation. We work to protect fundamental rights to privacy and free speech online, including data protection, the impacts of the use of data on vulnerable groups, and online surveillance. With over 20,000 active supporters, we are a grassroots organisation with local groups across the UK. We have worked in this policy field throughout the ‘online harms’ processes and consultations, and both Digital Economy Acts (2010 and 2017), accurately highlighting which parts of both DEAs would prove extraordinarily difficult to implement practically or fairly.