Microsoft confirms it does provide BitLocker recovery keys for encrypted data if it receives a valid legal order and the user has stored the keys on its servers
The tech giant said it receives around 20 requests for BitLocker keys a year and will provide them to governments in response to valid court orders.
Forbes Thomas Brewster
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft’s current position marks a clearer disclosure than its earlier refusal to directly address BitLocker backdoor questions and its 2016 statement that it had not given disk-encryption keys to a US agency despite cloud recovery-key backups. The key distinction is custody: the reported process applies when a user has placed recovery keys on Microsoft’s servers.
First-order effects
- Users who store BitLocker recovery keys with Microsoft face a defined lawful-access pathway: Microsoft can provide those keys when presented with a valid legal order.
- Microsoft formalizes the operational boundary between device encryption and cloud-held recovery credentials, while reporting a limited volume of such requests.
Second-order effects
- Security-conscious users and organizations may reassess whether the account-recovery convenience of cloud-stored keys outweighs the additional legal-access exposure.
- The disclosure raises the importance of clear consent and custody design across encryption products, particularly after Microsoft’s earlier assertion that it had not provided disk-encryption keys to a US agency.
Third-order effects
- Encryption is increasingly differentiated not only by cryptography, but by who holds recovery material and therefore who can be compelled to produce it.
- If vendors make these arrangements more explicit, recovery-key storage could become a more visible product and policy choice rather than a background account setting.
The trend: Consumer encryption is moving toward a custody-based model in which recovery convenience and lawful-access exposure depend on where keys are stored.
Related: Consent architecture · Microsoft · BitLocker · Microsoft’s 2016 disk-encryption key statement · Current BitLocker recovery-key disclosure
Related Coverage
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- Microsoft confirms it will give the FBI your Windows PC data encryption key if asked — you can thank Windows 11's forced online accounts for that Windows Central · Zac Bowden
- FBI Accessed Windows Laptops After Microsoft Shared BitLocker Recovery Keys Hackread · Deeba Ahmed
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- ICYMI: Microsoft has your consumer Bitlocker keys by default and will give them up if legally required. … David Seidman
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- “Microsoft tells me it receives around 20 requests for BitLocker keys every year. In many cases, but not all, it says it can't give the keys … Adrienne Fichter
- The craven acquiescence of #Microslop to side with crony capitalism & corrupt oligarchy over its own loyal customers is truly remarkable. — (Also nothing new.) 🤨 — https://www.windowscentral.com/ ... @jaredwhite@indieweb.social · Jared White
- Seriously - there is zero reason to still be using MS Windows — Microsoft gave FBI BitLocker keys, raising privacy fears | Windows Central https://www.windowscentral.com/ ... @dogzilla@masto.deluma.biz
- “Early last year, the FBI served Microsoft with a search warrant, asking it to provide recovery keys to unlock encrypted data stored on three laptops. Federal investigators in Guam believed the devices held evidence that would help prove individuals handling the island's Covid unemployment assistance program were part of a plot to steal funds. … @remixtures@tldr.nettime.org · Miguel Afonso Caetano
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- Listen I roll my eyes at the #JustInstallLinux beardoes as much as anyone but if you are engaged in resistance work and don't want Kash Patel to be able to comb through your laptop at will I will be happy to help you. — https://www.windowscentral.com/ ... @thekitmalone@hoosier.social · Kit Malone
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- Do not store your Bitlocker encryption keys on Microsoft's servers if your threat model includes governments or law enforcement. As this article points out, this is the result of a design choice Microsoft made. It didn't have to be this way. — https://www.forbes.com/... @evacide@hachyderm.io
- I was wondering when a reporter would uncover this. — So BitLocker is super secure, right? Well... BitLocker recovery keys are backed up to Microsoft's Cloud - and they give them out to law enforcement on request. Using the BitLocker recovery key, you can just unlock the device without a PIN etc. … @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social · Kevin Beaumont
- MS confirms it will give the FBI your Windows PC data encryption key if asked Hacker News
- Microsoft hands BitLocker recovery keys to authorities, enabling access to encrypted laptops Moneycontrol · Sarthak Singh
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Discussion
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@matthew_d_green
Matthew Green
on x
But more broadly, this highlights a fundamental weakness. If MS can easily produce this data to law enforcement, then anyone who compromises their cloud infrastructure (or customer service infrastructure; or can forge a plausible LE request) can potentially access that data.
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@migueldeicaza
Miguel de Icaza
on x
Microsoft's BitLocker as a placebo. They just give the keys to your data to anyone asking for it. The same FBI that is chasing Trump's political opponents and the same one that has operational security of a toddler in a candy store. https://techcrunch.com/...
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@karlemilnikka
Karl Emil Nikka
on x
Regarding Microsoft handing over Bitlocker keys to the FBI: remember that the question should never be about a service provider handing over the keys. The question is whether the service provider should have access to them in the first place. #Bitlocker
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@zacbowden
Zac Bowden
on x
...This should make everyone using a Windows PC think twice before backing up their BitLocker encryption key to Microsoft's servers. Windows 11's online Microsoft Account requirement means your PC is already automatically backing up your data encryption key online. Apple, Googl…
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@matthew_d_green
Matthew Green
on x
Microsoft is handing over Bitlocker keys to law enforcement. https://www.forbes.com/...
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@buyeuropean
@buyeuropean
on bluesky
“But Microsoft promised to store our data in a European data center!” 🤡 — #BuyEuropean — www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/ wi...
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@janvlug@mastodon.social
Jan Vlug
on mastodon
“Many modern #Windows computers rely on full-disk #encryption, called BitLocker, which is enabled by default.” — “But, by default, #BitLocker recovery #keys are #uploaded to Microsoft's cloud, allowing the tech giant — and by extension law enforcement — to access them and use t…
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@beejjorgensen@mastodon.sdf.org
@beejjorgensen@mastodon.sdf.org
on mastodon
I think it goes without saying that if an entity has your encryption key, they can be compelled to turn that key over to the government. Your Microsoft encrypted drive is not immune to this. — https://techcrunch.com/... #2600 #windows #cryptography #eff #civilrights
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@kim_harding@mastodon.scot
@kim_harding@mastodon.scot
on mastodon
Microsoft gave FBI a set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops — https://techcrunch.com/... Microsoft provided the FBI with the recovery keys to unlock encrypted data on the hard drives of three laptops as part of a federal investigation. — How long before…
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@dangillmor@mastodon.social
Dan Gillmor
on mastodon
Yet another reminder that when it comes to data privacy, Microsoft cannot be trusted — and, worse, its management is an eager ally of the fascists who run our government. — https://techcrunch.com/...
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r/antiwork
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Microsoft confirms it will give the FBI your Windows PC data encryption key if asked — you can thank Windows 11's forced online accounts for that
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Microsoft confirms it will give the FBI your Windows PC data encryption key if asked — you can thank Windows 11's forced online accounts for that
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Microsoft will assist the FBI in unlocking your Windows PC data if asked
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Microsoft confirms it will give the FBI your Windows PC data encryption key if asked — you can thank Windows 11's forced online accounts for that
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Microsoft confirms it will give the FBI your Windows PC data encryption key if asked — you can thank Windows 11's forced online accounts for that
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Microsoft confirms it will give the FBI your Windows PC data encryption key if asked — you can thank Windows 11's forced online accounts for that
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Microsoft confirms it will give the FBI your Windows PC data encryption key if asked — you can thank Windows 11's forced online accounts for that
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Microsoft confirms it will give the FBI your Windows PC data encryption key if asked — you can thank Windows 11's forced online accounts for that
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Microsoft confirms it will give the FBI your Windows PC data encryption key if asked. You can thank Windows 11's forced online accounts for that.