Microsoft gave FBI a set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects’ laptops: reports

Microsoft provided the FBI with recovery keys to unlock encrypted data on the hard drives of three laptop computers as part of a federal investigation. Forbes reported on Friday.

Many modern Windows computers rely on full disk encryption, called BitLocker Enabled by default. This type of technology should prevent anyone except the device owner from accessing data if the computer is locked and turned off.

But, by default, BitLocker recovery keys are uploaded to Microsoft’s cloud, allowing the tech giant — and law enforcement — to access them and use them to decrypt BitLocker-encrypted drives, as with the case reported by Forbes.

The case concerns several people suspected of fraud in connection with the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program in Guam, a US island in the Pacific Ocean. Local news outlet Pacific Daily News Covered case last year, stating that a warrant had been submitted to Microsoft regarding the suspects’ hard drives. Candit News, another local news outlet in Guam, Also mentioned In October, the FBI requested the arrest warrant six months after the three BitLocker-encrypted laptops were seized.

A Microsoft spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TechCrunch. Microsoft told Forbes that the company occasionally provides BitLocker recovery keys to authorities, receiving an average of 20 such requests per year.

Aside from the privacy risks of handing over recovery keys to the company, Johns Hopkins University professor and crypto expert Matthew Green said Possible scenario raised Malicious hackers compromise Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure – which… It happened Several times In recent years – and get these recovery keys. Hackers will still need physical access to your hard drives to use stolen recovery keys

“It is 2026 and these concerns have been known for years,” Green wrote in a letter. Posted on bluesky. “Microsoft’s inability to secure critical customer keys is beginning to set it apart from the rest of the industry.”