Former UK Cyber Chief believes it is “unrealistic” to demand Apple to break encryption

The former cybersecurity chief called the UK government “naive” for Apple’s request to add a backdoor to its software. This allows the UK Intelligence Agency to search customer data.

Ciaran Martin He is the head of cybersecurity at the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and was the first CEO of the National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) before joining Oxford University in 2020. New Scientist On reports that the UK government has made an unprecedented request to grant Apple access to data stored anywhere in the world, even if it is encrypted.

Such an order, made under the Investigation Powers Act of 2016, is intended to be made in secret, but Martin says it’s not surprising that details appear to have been leaked. “I think the idea that this type of order for companies like Apple would work secretly was probably naive,” he says.

Neither the Home Office nor Apple has confirmed the existence of requests. However, in February, Apple announced that it would do so. No longer provide advanced data protection servicesIt is designed to securely encrypt cloud data to new users in the UK. “As I’ve said many times before, we’ve never built a backdoor or a master key for our products or services and never would,” Apple said at the time. The same goes for the company Reportedly challenges British orders in legal cases that are likely to be heard secretly.

Martin says that while it’s not uncommon for governments and industries to collide with security issues, he is “not cumbersome, but susceptible to some form of compromise.” He says several times during his career at Intelligence Reporting Agency, technology companies have requested that malicious actors remove features used to harm national security or criminal enterprises. He refused to give details But they often said these are small specialized technology providers.

“They’ll have a new app or something, and it will become a criminal favourite for certain features, and you just say, ‘Look, you can’t do this,'” says Martin. “They are little niche technology, they are widely used. They are more misused than they are used.

At the end of the day, he says, the government must accept that non-crackable encryption will remain here. “The ship sailed,” says Martin. “I think the government has to agree to this in the end, and I think in the long run, I’m trying to force a global Titan. [US] The West Coast is not going well. ”