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Lollipop’s Encryption Takes a Hefty Toll

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The new full-disk encryption feature that's enabled by default in Android 5.0 Lollipop comes at a hefty price in terms of performance, according to a recent benchmark report.

In fact, when full-disk encryption is enabled, random read performance drops by 62.9 percent, while random write performance falls by 50.5 percent, AnandTech reported late last week. Sequential read performance, meanwhile, drops by a whopping 80.7 percent.

The bottom line is "serious negative implications for device performance in any situation where applications are reading or writing to disk," the report concludes.

With full-disk encryption, all information is encrypted before it's written to disk. Accessing the information requires decryption, which is protected by the device's lockscreen passcode.

A Nexus 6 was the device evaluated in this latest benchmark report. Normally it's not available without full-disk encryption, but Motorola reportedly provided a build with the feature disabled for the purpose of comparison testing.

Instructions for disabling Lollipop's encryption feature on the Nexus 6 are now available on the XDA developers' forum.

"There's a cost that comes with encrypting and decrypting stuff," said Ronald Gruia, director of emerging telecoms at Frost & Sullivan.

In the wake of the Edward Snowden leaks and "rampant security breaches" throughout the year, Apple took the lead and closed the "final back door" in its platform with iOS 8, he told TechNewsWorld.

Then, "Google had to match that," Gruia said. "It had offered full-disk encryption since version 3.0 'Honeycomb,' but only now is it on by default."

In general, the idea is to improve privacy by making snooping more and more difficult -- including even for law enforcement, Gruia noted.

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Lollipop's Encryption Takes a Hefty Toll

Android Lollipop’s default encryption devastates storage performance, tests show

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If you feel your snazzy new Nexus 6 just isn't performing as quickly and smoothly as it should be, Android 5.0's default full-disk encryption could be to blame. AnandTech recently ran storage performance benchmark tests on two Nexus 6 devices: one with and one without full-disk encryption (FDE) enabled.

The Nexus 6 comes with FDE enabled by default, which you can't turn disable, but the site was able to grab a non-encrypted phone from Motorola.

The results of the tests were staggering. With encryption enabled on the device, the site's benchmark tests saw a 62.9 percent drop in random read performance, a 50.5 percent drop in random write, and 80.7 percent in sequential read.

Long story short: there appears to be an issue with performance lag due to Android Lollipop's FDE. And with the Nexus 6 you pay that performance hit whether you've got your lock screen enabled or not.

Why this matters: Beefed up device encryption is a big deal with the latest generation of smartphones in the wake of Edward Snowden's revelations and rampant security breaches throughout 2014. Apple closed the door on its final back door with the iPhone 6 and iOS 8. Google, which has offered FDE since Android 3.0 Honeycomb, turned it on by default beginning with Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and the Nexus 6.

The idea is to improve privacy by making it harder for general snoops (and law enforcement) to peer into your device without permission. But if FDE means poor device performance, not many people will be willing to pay the price required for extra privacy.

The issue, says AnandTech, is that many components commonly used in Android devices just aren't up to the task of incorporating FDE without a performance hit. That will probably change over time, but for now it appears to be a big issue.

For Android encryption to be useful, you also must have the lock screen enabled. Without it, FDE is enabled but it doesn't kick inyet the cost penalty remains. In other words, you could be experiencing lag on your device even if you're not effectively using FDE.

Older phones that receive Lollipop as an over the air update or flash it to their devices do not get FDE turned on automatically.

Does this mean you shouldn't pick-up the Nexus 6? Probably not. As we said in our review, the 2.7GHz SoC and 3GB RAM makes for snappy performance, including with games. Other sites have also given the Nexus 6 top marks, although The Verge and Droid-Life did notice moments of strange lag.

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Android Lollipop's default encryption devastates storage performance, tests show

Why Open Leadership Has Become Essential

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You would not be reading this if open source software did not exist. Without open source standards, the Internet would not exist. This article would not exist. Those of you whose parents met on Match.com would not exist. All of you should be thankful for open source software. Now, as the world has changed, open source softwares principles of openness, transparency and meritocracy have become essential standards for leadership in general.

Mike Milinkovich of Eclipse, a community for individuals and organizations who wish to collaborate on commercially-friendly open source software, took me through his thoughts on those principles during a conversation at the HATCH experience.

Openness

Open source software design is open to all comers. Anyone can contribute. Everyone is invited to contribute. This is about the wisdom of crowds with each contributing in their own way.

Transparency

Complete transparency. To every line of code. To every project parameter. To every decision. The objective is for anyone coming in to be able to see what has been done before and why. This way newcomers can get onboard and contribute faster.

Meritocracy

Everyone has to earn his or her way in. Those most committed and most deserving are invited in once they have earned those invitations.

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Why Open Leadership Has Become Essential

Interview: Open source software is poised to oust proprietary solutions

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Business continuity, quality and control eclipse cost savings as the top reasons IT professionals prefer open source to proprietary software. According to a new study by the Ponemon Institute and Zimbra, more than 75% of IT professionals agree that code transparency increases the trustworthiness of a software application. And two-thirds believe it improves security and reduces privacy risks.

For "The Open Source Collaboration Study: Viewpoints on Security & Privacy in the US & EMEA", the Ponemon Institute interviewed IT and IT security practitioners about their companies' usage and perceptions of open source messaging and collaboration solutions.

We caught up with Larry Ponemon, the founder and chairman of the Ponemon Institute, to find out more about the study's contents.

TechRadar Pro: The average percentage of commercial open source used in EMEA is 25% and the US it's 30%. What factors are contributing to the slow adoption of open source?

Larry Ponemon: The report didn't explore the reason behind the slow adoption. But we did learn that Zimbra, whose messaging and collaboration solution is open source, was deployed in 40% of US and 30% of EMEA organisations.

Control over the software and ensuring business continuity are the most beneficial aspects of open source, according to the report. Security and privacy were also found to greatly benefit from open source's transparency.

Overall, the perceptions of open source were more positive than those of proprietary software, and more than half of the EMEA and US organisations surveyed are planning to replace their existing solutions with open source ones over the next two years.

TRP: EMEA organisations are more concerned with the privacy consequences of messaging and collaboration while US organisations focus more on security. Why are EMEA organisations more likely to enforce security and data privacy policies than their US counterparts?

LP: The regulatory regimes across EMEA and the US are very different. This is largely a function of the regulatory compliance landscape in the regions, and what the legislation and mandates of each prioritise.

EMEA legislation leads to strict data protection/privacy compliance, regardless of the industry vertical, and encompasses the entire citizenry.

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Interview: Open source software is poised to oust proprietary solutions

Open source and Internet of Things can save public sector millions

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Edward Qualtrough | Nov. 25, 2014

Camden Council CIO says disrupting the vendor market and working closely with other councils can save the government millions.

Open source software and the Internet of Things are two of the disruptive approaches which can save the public sector during the government's austerity measures and lay the ground to deliver next generation digital services, Camden Council CIO John Jackson believes.

Local government organisations are approaching a critical tipping point which could save the public sector and the taxpayer billions, Jackson said when he spoke at theOpen Source, the Cloud and your Businessevent hosted by Paolo Vecchi, the CEO of open source and Linux distribution specialists Omnis Systems.

Camden has to save 150 million between 2012 and 2018 from its bottom line while at the same time delivering fundamental transformation to tackle inequality, foster economic growth and deliver citizen centric services, Jackson explained as he outlined the council's challenges.

"There's a huge opportunity in government for innovation, putting citizens at the heart, cutting costs and doing things differently," Jackson said.

"But the problem is we don't have lots of money - we can't afford the largess of the past, in the future.

"Our existing apps are largely proprietary; there's a disproportionately small number of large vendors dominating the market, and no real open source advocates in government.

"There's lots of cynicism around open source and the art of the possible, particularly in the CIO community who want to buy things off the shelf and are too worried about security."

Disrupting the vendor market Jackson said that local government CIOs need to UK software and services market, and instead of getting shaped by products, shape the tools themselves so they are useful for the public sector.

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Open source and Internet of Things can save public sector millions

Assange: We’re all being watched

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Exiled WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks to a festival audience in Austin, Texas, via livestream from London.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Austin, Texas (CNN) -- From his sanctuary in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, with roughly a dozen police officers outside, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Saturday that everyone in the world will be just as effectively monitored soon -- at least digitally.

"The ability to surveil everyone on the planet is almost there and, arguably, will be there in the next couple of years," said Assange, speaking via Skype to a large audience at the South by Southwest Interactive festival here.

Assange rocketed to international fame, and infamy, in 2010 after Wikileaks began helping publish secret government documents online.

Ecuador granted Assange asylum in June 2012 and he fled to the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he raped one woman and sexually molested another.

He calls those charges false and politically motivated, but has said he fears Sweden will transfer him to the United States, where he could face the death penalty for the work of WikiLeaks if he were charged and convicted of a crime.

On Saturday, he called life in the embassy "like a prison," adding that actual inmates "arguably" have it worse.

Saturday's talk was billed as a question-and-answer session, but because of technological glitches it ended up being mostly an hourlong speech by Assange, punctuated occasionally with questions from Twitter.

The one-sided conversation seemed to turn off some members of the 2,000 people in the audience, many of whom streamed out before Assange was finished speaking.

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Assange: We're all being watched


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