Microsoft has said it will provide the authorities with encryption keys for any Windows PC data protected by Bitlocker, where it has received a warrant to do so. The admission comes after the FBI served Microsoft with a search warrant in early 2025 (thanks, Forbes) compelling it to provide the keys for data held and encrypted on three laptops that, the Feds claim, contained evidence proving Covid-related fraud on Guam.
The data in question was protected with BitLocker, which is automatically enabled on most modern Windows PCs to encrypt the PC's hard drive. Users can choose to store the keys on a separate device, or via Microsoft's cloud service (which is the default option). In the Guam case the keys had been stored on Microsoft's servers, and were provided to the authorities.
