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

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

Many modern Windows computers rely on full-disk encryption, called BitLocker, which is enabled by default. This type of technology should prevent anyone other than the device owner from accessing the data when the computer is locked and turned off.

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 them to decrypt drives encrypted with BitLocker, as is the case reported by Forbes.

The case involved several people suspected of fraud related to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program on the US island of Guam in the Pacific. Local news outlet Pacific Daily News covered the case last year, reporting that a warrant was sent to Microsoft regarding the suspects’ hard drives. Another local Guam news outlet, Candid News, also reported in October that the FBI had requested a warrant six months after seizing three laptops encrypted with BitLocker.

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

In addition to the privacy risks of handing over recovery keys to a company, Johns Hopkins professor and cryptography expert Matthew Green raised the possible scenario where malicious hackers compromise Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure – something that has happened several times in recent years – and gain access to these recovery keys. Hackers would still need physical access to the hard drive to use the stolen recovery keys.

“It’s 2026 and these concerns have been known for years,” Green wrote in a post on BlueSky. “Microsoft’s inability to secure critical customer keys is increasingly isolating it from the rest of the industry.”