BRUSSELS - The European Union's presidency said people's privacy must be protected following British calls for police access to encrypted messages in case of attacks.

Maltese Interior Minister Carmelo Abela said on Monday "there is a fine line here. We need to of course protect the privacy of the people but we also have to protect the security of the people".

Abela said that EU states and internet providers should continue talks to establish the right security-privacy balance.

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said on Sunday that technology companies must cooperate more with law enforcement agencies and should stop offering a "secret place for terrorists to communicate" using encrypted messages.

Local media have reported that British-born Khalid Masood sent an encrypted message moments before killing four people last week by plowing his car into pedestrians and fatally stabbing a policeman as he tried to get into parliament in an 82-second attack that struck terror in the heart of London.

Asked for her view on companies which offer end-to-end encrypted messages, Rudd said: "It is completely unacceptable, there should be no place for terrorists to hide. We need to make sure organizations like WhatsApp, and there are plenty of others like that, don't provide a secret place for terrorists to communicate with each other.

"We need to make sure that our intelligence services have the ability to get into situations like encrypted WhatsApp."