Smartphones firmly occupied their place in our lives. We trust them with their personal data, sometimes very confidential, without thinking about those cases when the device falls into foreign hands. Sometimes this shortness can lead to a catastrophe. On the this moment Smartphones on the Android platform are leading in terms of sales worldwide. The advantages of Android are the use of open technologies, convenience in operation, the availability of data encryption.
Becoming the happy owner of a smartphone based on Android, it became interested in how much reliably smartphone encrypts my data? I dedicated this fascinating theme for several October evenings and this article. For clarity, I presented in a graphical form, the architecture of the Cryptfs module and the Android encryption algorithm.
Android encryption security
Maximize your data on devices running android allows full encryption disk. Data encryption has been added to Android 3.0 Honeycomb, this version Android was oriented for tablets. For the first time for smartphone owners, the possibility of encryption appeared in version 4.0. The mechanisms for implementing the data encryption system will be considered on the example of new Android versions.
Full disk encryption protects confidential data in case of device loss, theft or confiscation for any reason. For employees of the special services, data obtaining data on encrypted devices is very difficult and depends on a number of conditions. If the device turned off during transport or simply discharged the battery, then the data obtaining is complicated. The fact is that complete encryption is vulnerable to the attack "Cold Download" (Freed-Boot), with which the method of physical freezing device is possible to consider information from random access memory. This is achieved due to the fact that the operational memory for the loss of nutrition is cleared for a certain amount of time, and during freezing the cleansing process slows down and can last from a few seconds to several minutes. From the RAM of the Android database devices, you can extract AES keys, but the disk decryption is possible only with a unlocked loader. The loader unlocking procedure can be resorted only when unlocking does not destroy all user data (which depends on specific model devices). But even if the bootloader is locked, then contacts, visited web sites, photos, etc., can be retrieved from RAM. this species Attacks on smartphones demonstrated German researchers who called their Frost method. They demonstrated the attack on Samsung Galaxy Nexus, however sAMSUNG smartphone Galaxy Sii did not manage to decipher the disk, explained by the fact that encryption on this device It differs from encryption in the Android official release.
For improved confidentiality and data protection, people concerned about this issue can use information encryption, which is stored on their mobile device using the Android operating system built into the operating system.
When applying this method, a number of reservations should be made. This process is one-sided, that is, when it is turned on, there is no possibility to turn it off without consequences, because the mechanism of encryption is turned off to the factory settings. Before encryption, it is recommended to make backups Data, and in no case cannot be interrupted the encryption process, otherwise the owner of a smartphone or tablet is waiting for irreversible consequences associated with the loss of information, there is also a risk of completely "kill" the device. Before the encryption process, you should also make sure that the alphanumeric password is installed or PIN, which is used to remove the screen lock, as operating system will use it as a key for decryption. 
What is an encryption process on Android
To start the encryption process, you must go to the system parameters- Safety, encrypt the device. After data encryption, you will need to enter an alphanumeric password or PIN. If necessary, it is possible to encrypt not all device, but only selected files and directories. In such cases, the SSE Universal Encription application is perfectly suitable, which includes all popular encryption algorithms, including Blowfish-256, AES-256 and SARPENT-256. The application includes three modules: Password Vault, for secure password storage in various folders, Message Encryptor, allowing you to encrypt, both the text and its fragments, and, as a more interesting and useful module, is File / Dir Encryptor, which through the built-in browser window allows you to choose how to choose separate filesAnd as well as directories that are subsequently prior to the algorithm selected by the user. You can download the application from Google Play or through a computer.
Magazilla's Internet catalog provides the possibility of comparing goods and shops. If you need a computer mouse, prices on the site http://m.ua/ Available to each visitor. Come and familiarize yourself with the catalog of companies where you can buy goods.
Also for better data protection on mobile devicesoh, you can use Cyanogen MOD, which can only be supplied using a computer with an operating room. windows system. Instead of Cyanogen MOD, you can also install the Replicant distribution, which is based on Cyanogen MOD, but is free and open and replaces all the android device drivers to alternative drivers with open source code.
Today, each user has to think about protection confidential information from unauthorized persons. Mobile manufacturers take care of future customers and their right to confidentiality, therefore, more and more attention is paid to the preservation of personal data. Tablets can also be attributed to personal devicesTherefore, let's talk about their protection.
Is it possible to disable encryption on the tablet?
System functions of modern tablets support the encryption mode of information stored as on internal memory devices and on the outer map SD. It should be remembered that working encryption has a negative impact on the productivity of the device. Those who appreciate the computing power above the maintenance of personal data, must be read by this article.If you were lucky enough to take possession of an Android tablet, initially operating on the basis of the version of the operating system, disable the encryption function will not be possible. Developers decided to register forced encryption of information on the latest versions of the OS, but should not be desirable, because hackers also do not sleep. There is no doubt that these workers will soon offer their solution to this problem. At the same time, the tablets, the operating system of which was updated to latest version With earlier, not limited to similar prohibitions, therefore, the disabling option is available. However, we recommend thinking if you really need it?
On more early versions Android, up to 2.3.4., Encryption needs to be launched manually. This option is in the settings menu: Security-\u003e Encryption-\u003e Encrypt Device. It should be borne in mind that after that it is impossible to decipher the encrypted data, since the developer did not provide for such an opportunity. Thus, if you need to decipher information, its loss is inevitable. To do this, you will need to reset the device to factory settings from the "Recovery" mode.
To make such a reset, you need to press the zoom and reduction keys at the same time to turn off the tablet state, also the inclusion key. Will be downloaded in engineering menuWhere using the volume control buttons you need to find the menu item "WIPE DATA / FACTORY RESET" and, selecting it, press the power key. When the reset operation is completed, you must reboot by selecting "Reboot". After downloading to the operating mode on the tablet, you should restore personal data, after which it is no longer run encryption.
You use your smartphone (tablet) Android to save personal photos, read important emails, do online purchases using your credit card, edit and convey important documents? If your answer is "yes", then you should think about encryption of your device.
Unlike the iPhone, Android devices do not automatically encrypt the data that is stored on them, even if you use a password to unlock the device, but if you use Android Gingerbread 2.3.4 or higher, then encryption is easy to enable.
Encryption of your phone means that if the phone is blocked, the files are encrypted. Any files sent and received from your phone will not be encrypted if you do not use additional methods.
The only difference between the unencrypted and encrypted phone from the user's point of view is that you will now use a password to unlock the phone (tablet).
If your phone is not encrypted, the password is just locking the screen. In fact, B. this case The password simply blocks the screen - that is, it does nothing to protect the files that are stored on the device. So, if the attackers find the path of climbing the lock screen, then they get full access to your files.
In case the phone is encrypted, the password is the key that decrypts encrypted files.
That is, when the phone is locked, all the data is encrypted, and even if the attackers find a way to bypass the lock screen, then everything that they find is encrypted data.
How to enable encryption on the Android device?
1. Open the Settings menu.
2. In the settings, select Security\u003e Encryption (Enchant Device).
3. In accordance with the requirements, you need to enter a password with a length of at least six characters, at least one of which is a number.
As soon as you specify the password, the encryption process of your files will start. Encryption may take an hour or more, thus, before the encryption, you must enable the charger.
As soon as the encryption process is completed - everything is ready! Make sure you have saved your password in a safe place, because now it will come in handy you every time when you want to access the phone. Note that if you forget the password, then today there is no way to restore it.
In fact, the encryption of Android devices together with obvious advantages has significant disadvantages:
- Imagine that you every time you want to call, you will need to type a difficult password. I wonder how soon you get bored?
- You will not be able to decrypt the encrypted device, it is simply not provided. To decrypt there is a single way - to reset the phone into the factory settings. At the same time, naturally, all your data will be lost. Especially interesting it will look if you forget to pre-make a backup.
Thus, today there is a difficult choice - or you encrypt your device and put up with huge inconveniences, or you get ease of use, but to the detriment of security. What way do you choose? I dont know. Whatever the way I chose? I can not answer too. I just do not know.
Vladimir Mockless , MVP CONSUMER SECURITY, Microsoft Security Trusted Advisor
The FBI tried to unscrew the hands of Apple's hands, which does not want to create a code for bypassing its own security system. A critical vulnerability in the Android core, which allows you to access the superuser to bypass all protective mechanisms. These two events, although not interconnected, but coincided in time, explicitly demonstrating differences in the security system of two popular mobile OS. I will postpone a minute with the critical vulnerability of the Android kernel, which is unlikely to be ever fixed by most manufacturers in the already released models, and consider the data encryption mechanisms in Android and Apple iOS.. But first let's talk, why do you need encryption in mobile devices.
Why encrypt the phone?
A honest person to hide nothing - the most popular leitmotif that sounds after each publication on the topic of data protection. "I have nothing to hide," say many users. Alas, but much more often is meant only to confidence that no one will bother to climb into the data of the specific Vasi Pupkin, for who they are generally interesting? Practice shows that it is not. I will not walk far: Literally, a school teacher's career was completed last week, who left the phone on the table for a moment. Pupils instantly unlocked the apparatus and removed the photos of the teacher in the form, which is condemned by the Puritan morality of the American society. The incident served as sufficient basis for the dismissal of the teacher. Similar stories occur almost daily.
How unencrypted phones are collected
We will not deepen into details, just mean: data from an unencrypted phone can be removed by almost one hundred percent of cases. "Almost" here relates more to the cases when the phone tried to physically damage or destroy immediately before removing the data. In many android devices and Windows Phone there is service modeallowing you to merge all data from the device's memory through a regular USB cable. This concerns most devices on the Qualcomm platform (HS-USB mode, which works even when the loader is locked), on chinese smartphones With MediaTek processors (MTK), Spreadtrum and allwinner (if the loader is unlocked), as well as all LG smartphones (there is generally a convenient service mode, which allows you to drain the data even from the "ipyrpized" device).
But even if there is no service "black stroke" in the phone, the data from the device can still be obtained, disassembled the machine and connecting to the test port of the JTAG. In the most running cases, the EMMC chip is retrieved from the device, which is inserted into the simplest and very cheap adapter and works along the same protocol as the most common SD card. If the data was not encrypted, it is easily removed from the phone at all over the authentication markers that provide access to your cloud storage facilities.
And if the encryption was included? In the old versions of Android (up to 4.4 inclusive) and it could be circumvented (except for the truth, Samsung production devices). But in Android 5.0, the mode of persistent encryption has finally appeared. But is it useful, as Google believes? Let's try to figure out.
Android 5.0-6.0.
The first device under android management 5.0 became Google Nexus. 6, released in 2014 company Motorola.. At that time, 64-bit mobile processors with Armv8 architecture were already actively promoted, but Qualcomm had no ready-made solution on this platform. As a result, Nexus 6, SNAPDRAGON 805 system logic was used, based on 32-bit Qualcomm's own development kernels.
Why is it important? The fact is that the processors on the Armv8 architecture built in the set of commands to speed up the streaming data encryption, and in 32-bit processors Armv7 there are no such commands.
So, watch hands. Instructions for accelerating crypto in the processor there, so Qualcomm has grown in a set of system logic selected hardware module.designed to perform the same functions. But something in Google did not work out. Whether the drivers at the time of release did not finish, or Qualcomm did not provide source codes (or did not allow them to publish them in AOSP). Details of the public are unknown, but the result is known: Nexus 6 shocked browsers an extremely slow data reading rate. How slow? Approximately like this:
The reason for the eight-round lag from the "younger brother", smartphone Motorola. Moto X 2014 is simple: forcibly enabled encryption implemented by the company at the program level. IN real life Nexus 6 users on original version The firmware complained about numerous lags and friezes, noticeable heat heating and relatively weak autonomy. Installing the kernel, disconnecting forcibly activated encryption, once solved these problems.
However, the firmware is that it is, it can be finished, right, right? Especially if you are Google, have unlimited finances and have in the state of the most qualified developers. Well, let's see what happened next.
And then there was Android 5.1 (six months later), in which required drivers To work with the hardware accelerator, first added in the preliminary version of the firmware, and then again removed in the final due to serious problems with sleeping mode. Then there was Android 6.0, at the time of which users had already managed to lose interest in this game and became any ways to turn off encryption, using third-party kernels. Or do not disable if the read speed of 25-30 MB / s is enough.
Android 7.0.
Well, but in Android 7 it was possible to fix a serious problem of the flagship device, which for almost two years already? You can, and it was corrected! The Laboratory "ELKOMSOFT" compared the performance of two identical Nexus 6, on one of which the version of Android 6.0.1 was installed with the Elementalx core (and disconnected encryption), while the second was running the first preliminary control android version 7 with default settings (Enabled). The result is obvious:
Continuation available only to participants
Option 1. Join the site community to read all the materials on the site
Membership in the community during the specified period will open you access to all the materials of Hacker, will increase your personal accumulative discount and will accumulate a professional Xakep Score rating!
