14 DAY TRIAL // Apple will develop and release an online tool aimed at police forces worldwide in order to make the process of requesting user data more seamless.
The existing system relies entirely on communications between authorities and Apple taking place via email, according to a report from Reuters.
But by the end of the year, Apple will launch an online tool that will allow investigators, including both those in the United States and in other countries, to send a user data request to the company, the Cupertino-based tech giant is quoted as saying in a letter seen by the cited source.
The letter was sent by Apple General Counsel Kate Adams to U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse earlier this week and provides more details about how the firm wants to enhance its collaboration with the police.
Extracting data from iCloud
Last year, US law enforcement sent a total of 14,000 user data requests to the company, Apple says in this letter, and no less than 231 of them were addressed within 20 minutes “regardless of the time of day or night,” the company is quoted as adding.
Previously, Apple engineers have personally instructed police forces on how to request user data, but the company will introduce a new program that will make it easier for law enforcement to complete the process.
A team of Apple experts will work together with police forces as part of an online course to highlight the main steps for a user data request, and the guide will be offered to authorities all across the world.
An online tool that will enhance the process will also be launched and will be exclusively aimed at the police, the company said. Its debut is projected to take place by the end of the year.
Law enforcement can obtain several user details from Apple, as long as these details are stored in the cloud. The company has been criticized several times for not breaking into iPhones to extract encrypted information, including in the case of the San Bernardino terrorist attacks.
Apple refused to unlock an iPhone allegedly used by one of the shooters, claiming that developing a hacking system would have compromised the security of all its devices.