From malware apps to the NSA to Google itself, it seems like everyone wants to get your private data. And that doesn’t even include someone having just physical access to your phone. Security experts often say that with current snooping technologies, there’s not much you can do to hide your data from the people who really, really want it. Your best defense is to be tasteless, they won’t care about that.
It’s the same story if you save your data in the “cloud”. You don’t know who has access to your data stored on someone else’s server.
Related: Looking for a secure way to store data in the cloud? Find out which cloud storage provider is right for you.
But you can’t give up privacy entirely. You need to have a foothold somewhere and one way to do that is with encryption. I’m sure you’ve heard of this term before. But what does it mean regarding personal data on your Android phone? And how helpful would that be in securing your data? Read to find out.
What is encryption?
Google has announced that any phone that ships with Android 5.0 Lollipop will have encryption enabled by default. But what about the hundreds of millions of Android devices already available? And the ones that will upgrade to 5.0? Well, those devices (Android 4.1 and up) will need to enable this option manually.
In the most basic sense, encryption means that your data has an extra layer of security. In case someone gets hold of your phone, they won’t be able to copy the file from the storage right away, even if they attach it to the computer. They will need to decrypt the data first.
Speaking of data decryption, the encryption key is another important aspect of this exchange. The job of the key is to decrypt the data for the right users and prevent snooping attacks from accessing your information.
Because this key is so important, Google ensures that it is not uploaded to any of Google’s servers. The key is device-based and only exists on that particular device.
How does encryption in Android work?
If you don’t buy a phone with Android 5.0 pre-installed, setting up encryption will be a bit of a pain. But before we set it up, here’s what you need to know about it.
Encryption requires you to have a device pin or password. No PIN defeats the purpose. If anyone can access your phone, they can simply go to the file manager and copy the data, even if you have encryption turned on. If you have a password lock, a person cannot access the files stored on your device even if it is connected to a PC.
Second, on some devices, encryption only works for files stored on internal storage. In this case, the SD card storage will remain open for everyone to access.
After activating encryption and PIN lock, you will need to enter the PIN immediately after starting the phone, otherwise it will not work. Also, disabling encryption is not easy. It asks you to do a factory reset.
How to Set Up Encryption on Android 4.1 and Up Devices
File encryption takes a long time, anywhere from half an hour to over an hour, especially if you have 32-64 GB of memory. Before you start this process, make sure that your phone is connected to the charger and don’t be afraid if the phone reboots a few times.
Step 1: Enter Setting -> Protect -> Lock screen and enable PIN or password lock.
Step 2: Now from Protectselect Phone Encryption select. If you see an option for Encrypt SD cardselect it (this will depend on the device you have).
Step 3: Choose Next and enter the PIN/password to authenticate.
Step 4: Wait while the device encrypts the files.
Use a third-party app to take it a step further
If you don’t trust Android’s built-in encryption, or if you think encrypting the entire file system is a bit of a hassle, check out a third-party app called Secrety.
We’ve detailed it here, and it uses the same military-grade AES encryption as Android.
What do you think about encryption in Android?
What do you think of the whole “everyone wants to get your personal data and you have to do anything to keep it” debate? Let us know in the comments below.
Top images via Johan Larsson
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
