I'd been putting off Android updated for a while (several months). Updated the other day and I've only just realised my phone no longer asks for a password on startup. I can also no longer find any mention of encryption in the option menu (tried searching). Anyone got any ideas what is going on? I managed to find a "password on startup" button, which I reenabled.
The fact no warning was given is troubling. Almost like Samsung is complying with government complaints about phones being too difficult to get into.
i thought if your phone was encrypted you couldnt install a unencrypted update without formatting the data partition?
if your worried about stuff like that make sure you dont use fingerprint or face id specially going through airports or anywhere else you might be asked to unlock your device
It may be encrypted by default. Couldn't imagine the backlash if they rolled back default boot encrypt.
It's a feature of newer versions of Android. Instead of promting you prior to boot, now the lock screen requires a pin on first boot and the user data folder is the only thing encrypted.
You're still just as safe as before, but now if the phone restarts in the middle of the night you won't miss all of your alarms.
So how does it boot if my phone is encrypted? Presumably it has to store the key on the device to do so which isn't exactly safe.
I have a Note 8 and my firm told me once they rolled out their new security features, I wouldn't be able to use my phone for work email due to it lacking the right kind of encryption compared to other android/ios devices.
If you're talking about the prompt that comes up before it fully boots Android, you might be able to bring that back by just re-doing your lockscreen security (ie redoing your lockscreen PIN, etc). There should be a prompt asking if you want some kind of additional security while doing it. It always seemed to turn itself off after updates for me.
Only your user data is encrypted, and even then some apps can store data in unencrypted space (Such as Clock for your Alarms, or your current wallpaper).
It's not any weaker because the system folder is protected 100 different ways, double if the bootloader is locked.
If there is unencrypted space in the device then it really is weaker.
Some stuff has to be unencrypted, otherwise the device can't boot. For example, in Windows, there is always a unencrypted bootloader partition that is there purely for booting bitlocker partitions. It makes sense in Windows, because the user information isn't necessarily separate from the OS.
The goal of encryption is to prevent user information from being compromised outside of the normal OS. The OS partition isn't really anything special, since outside of root, the user doesn't store data there. Its just another layer of phyical security, not the end all be all.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
