Microsoft Gave FBI Keys To Unlock Encrypted Data, Exposing Major Privacy Concern

According to Forbes, Thomas Brewster reports that early last year the FBI served Microsoft with a search warrant, asking it to provide recovery keys to unlock encrypted data on three laptops. The Guam-based investigators believed the devices held evidence related to a plot to steal funds from the island’s Covid unemployment assistance programme. The data were protected with BitLocker, a feature that encrypts data on Windows PCs and can be unlocked with a recovery key.

It states that while storing keys on a user’s device or on Microsoft’s servers can aid convenience, it also creates vulnerability to law enforcement subpoenas and warrants, and in the Guam case Microsoft handed over the encryption keys to investigators. The piece is published as of 23 January 2026.