The Beijing municipal government stated that Chinese state-backed researchers have developed a method to identify people who use Apple’s encrypted AirDrop messaging service.
AirDrop enables users to communicate content to Apple devices nearby without an internet connection, encoded so that it cannot be read by others.
The service was heavily used by participants in the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which were subsequently suppressed by China’s central government.
In 2022, Apple also prohibited file-sharing for Chinese iPhone users following protests against the ruling Communist Party’s stringent zero-Covid policy.
According to the Beijing municipal government’s justice bureau, experts at the Beijing Wangshen Dongjian Justice Appraisal Institute in the capital have found a method to uncover an iPhone’s encrypted device log.
They may then identify an AirDrop user’s phone number and email address, as per the statement on the bureau’s website.
“The technique cracked the tough technological problem of the transmission of inappropriate information with anonymous traceability via AirDrop”, the statement reads.
It has also raised the efficacy and accuracy of case detection and resolution and has effectively helped police ascertain several case suspects.
The statement did not say whether the technique has resulted in any arrests or convictions.
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