U.S. spy chief Gabbard says UK agreed to drop 'back door' mandate for Apple

U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said connected Monday the U.K. had agreed to drop its mandate for iPhone maker Apple to supply a "back door" that would person enabled entree to the protected encrypted information of American citizens.

Gabbard issued the connection connected X, saying she had worked for months with Britain, on with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance to get astatine a deal.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was successful Washington connected Monday on with different European leaders to conscionable Trump and sermon Russia's warfare successful Ukraine.

The U.K. authorities and Apple did not instantly respond to requests for remark on Gabbard's statement.

U.S. lawmakers said successful May that the U.K.'s order to Apple to make a backdoor to its encrypted user information could beryllium exploited by cybercriminals and authoritarian governments.

Apple, which has said it would ne'er physique a alleged backmost doorway into its encrypted services oregon devices, had challenged the bid astatine the U.K.'s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT).

The iPhone shaper withdrew its Advanced Data Protection diagnostic for U.K. users successful February pursuing the U.K. order. Users of Apple's iPhones, Macs and different devices tin alteration the diagnostic to guarantee that lone they — and not even Apple — tin unlock information stored connected its cloud.

U.S. officials said earlier this year they were examining whether the U.K. broke a bilateral statement by demanding that Apple physique a backdoor allowing the British authorities to entree backups of information successful the company's encrypted unreality retention systems.

In a missive dated February 25 to U.S. lawmakers, Gabbard said the U.S. was examining whether the U.K. authorities had violated the CLOUD Act, which bars it from issuing demands for the information of U.S. citizens and vice versa.

Cybersecurity experts told Reuters that if Apple chose to physique a backdoor for a government, that backdoor would yet beryllium recovered and exploited by hackers.

Apple has sparred with regulators implicit encryption arsenic acold backmost arsenic 2016 erstwhile the U.S. authorities tried to compel it to physique a instrumentality to unlock the iPhone of a suspected extremist.