• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

What Advantage is Encryption?

R

rbscairns

Newbie
Nexus 7 3G, Android 4.2.2, OEM boot loader, non-rooted.

I have a secure password to get into my N7. What is the advantage of using the settings to encrypt my data?

From my research, it would appear that the only advantage is if someone physically accessed the actual SSD and was able to then retrieve the contents.
 
Better make sure you don't forget the encryption password/phrase. It may not seem apparent, but I have seen many people with that problem.

In addition it takes longer to access the encrypted data because the decryption is not a trivial task. So use moderately and not for non-essential data.
 
Mainly it's just for if you have any sensitive data. It's probably more useful to corporate and government users that deal with sensitive information. If it's just a personal machine for home entertainment , don't worry about it.
 
I may at times have government classified data stored on my N7. From what I understand, if I encrypt my N7, my current (secure) login password is used to access the encrypted data.

Where is the added security of encrypting my N7?
 
There are ways of accessing the data stored in a device like the Nexus 7 without even booting it.

Encryption ensures that the key must be known before the data can be read and the fact that it may be the same key used to login to the tablet is incidental and irrelevant.

That said it's good practice to keep login passwords separate from encryption keys if at all possible.
 
rbscairns said:
I may at times have government classified data stored on my N7. From what I understand, if I encrypt my N7, my current (secure) login password is used to access the encrypted data.

Where is the added security of encrypting my N7?
Click to expand...

Its to prevent unauthorized access to the data outside of the OS. For example, using the Android Debug Interface to retrieve files off the internal memory (which doesn't necessarily require a login, depending on certain factors). It does not add security within the OS itself, because when you login, you are giving it the key so it can decrypt the files.

Its sort of like Windows file encryption. If you try and access the files outside of the user account and Windows install that encrypted them, your out of luck unless you happen to have the key. However, those files will appear to programs as unencrypted if you are logged in to the correct user account, so it won't add security (from say, malware) if you are logged in as the authorized user.
 
Thank you Demarche for clearing this up for me.

What you are basically saying is that it is possible (under certain circumstances) for someone to gain access to the N7's internal memory without going through the login process. Encrypting the N7 then prevents this, as strong as the login password may be.
 
rbscairns said:
Thank you Demarche for clearing this up for me.

What you are basically saying is that it is possible (under certain circumstances) for someone to gain access to the N7's internal memory without going through the login process. Encrypting the N7 then prevents this, as strong as the login password may be.
Click to expand...

Exactly. As long as you are not logged in, your data is unusable. Since the Nexus 7 doesn't use external memory, someone would have to really know their stuff to access the internal memory without logging in. So I wouldn't concerned about a petty thief that only wants to sell it. But if they do, there's your protection. Once you log in, your device is decrypting the files on the fly as you use them.

If you need a file to be encrypted even when your logged in, there is probably an app that can do that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom