Sunday, February 16, 2025

Why we’re worried about encryption backdoors

Sunday, February 16, 2025

Image Credits: Javier Zayas Photography / Getty Images

U.K. officials are reportedly demanding that Apple give them "blanket" access to encrypted iCloud user data. Natasha Lomas explains what this means and why it's concerning.

While the predominant metaphor is a security "backdoor," put more plainly it's a security vulnerability. And even if you trust law enforcement not to abuse that access, there's no guarantee others won't figure out how to take advantage.

To mix a metaphor, backdoors can end up biting their creators. For example, Chinese-backed hackers were recently able to compromise federal wiretap systems and access user data thanks to mandatory backdoors.

Keep reading to see what else TechCrunch is covering this weekend.

Weekend news and opinion

Image Credits: Marco VDM / Getty Images

Check out these reasonably priced Google Photos alternatives: Google Drive and Gmail only offer 15 gigabytes of storage for free — which can seem like nothing if you're a serious user. But as Sarah Perez reports, if you've run out of space, there are other options for affordable photo storage, from Amazon Photos to 500px. Read more

Open source LLMs are on the EU's agenda: Paul Sawers reports on a new program to create "truly" open source large language models covering all European Union languages. The program's goals sound worthy, but it's less clear whether they're achievable. Read more

NATO backs five defense startups: The Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, a NATO program in partnership with the U.K., unveiled its first cohort of startups this week. Mike Butcher explains the program and reports on each of the five participating companies. Read more

What else we're reading

📗 Spyglass' MG Siegler looks at what OpenAI has shared about its product roadmap and sees signs of a "great AI UI unification," where AI "just works." In other words, (maybe) say goodbye to dropdown menus asking you to choose between different AI models. Read more

📕 Also, 404 Media reports on eyebrow-raising security vulnerabilities on the DOGE website. Read more