Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Tracking & Law Enforcement

Apple Chief Warns UK Against New Spying Law: Report

A new planned Internet spying law in Britain could have the perverse effect of giving cyber criminals a “back door”, Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph out on Tuesday.

A new planned Internet spying law in Britain could have the perverse effect of giving cyber criminals a “back door”, Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph out on Tuesday.

“We believe very strongly in end-to-end encryption and no back doors,” Cook said during a visit to Britain that comes after plans for a new Investigatory Powers Bill were outlined this month.

The new bill, which has been heavily criticized by privacy campaigners, would not ban encryption altogether but would make it easier for Britain’s security services to access encrypted communications.

“To protect people who use any products, you have to encrypt. You can just look around and see all the data breaches that are going on. These things are becoming more frequent,” Cook said.

“We don’t think people want us to read their messages. We don’t feel we have the right to read their emails,” he added.

“Any back door is a back door for everyone. Everybody wants to crack down on terrorists. Everybody wants to be secure. The question is how. Opening a back door can have very dire consequences.”

Home Secretary Theresa May unveiled plans for a “world-leading oversight regime” on Internet communications, but the civil rights group Liberty called it a “breath-taking attack” on Britain’s online security.

Campaigners have said the new legislative proposals could lead to the kind of blanket surveillance revealed by US whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

British officials say it was partly due to concerns raised by Snowden that they have updated surveillance legislation, and also because current laws date as far back as 1995, before the rise of the Internet as we know it.

Written By

AFP 2023

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Cybercrime

Daniel Kelley was just 18 years old when he was arrested and charged on thirty counts – most infamously for the 2015 hack of...

Cybercrime

No one combatting cybercrime knows everything, but everyone in the battle has some intelligence to contribute to the larger knowledge base.

Cybercrime

The FBI dismantled the network of the prolific Hive ransomware gang and seized infrastructure in Los Angeles that was used for the operation.

Ransomware

The Hive ransomware website has been seized as part of an operation that involved law enforcement in 10 countries.

Privacy

Employees of Chinese tech giant ByteDance improperly accessed data from social media platform TikTok to track journalists in a bid to identify the source...

CISO Strategy

The SEC filed charges against SolarWinds and its CISO over misleading investors about its cybersecurity practices and known risks.

Cybercrime

A global cyber espionage campaign has resulted in the networks of many organizations around the world becoming compromised after the attackers managed to breach...

Ransomware

US government reminds the public that a reward of up to $10 million is offered for information on cybercriminals, including members of the Hive...