Journey to Encryption of Data at Rest
Journey to Encryption of Data at Rest - presentation given at HIMSS14 by Denis Tanguay, CIO, Central Maine Healthcare, and Jeff Bell, Director of IT Security...

By: CareTechTV

See original here:
Journey to Encryption of Data at Rest - Video

Free Pro Vpn with encryption, 20+ countries [USA, UK, FR, IT, CH and more!] 09192014, no survey!
Updated on 09192014! Hello, nowadays privacy is really important and a vpn is what you need if you want to surf the internet safely and anonimously. Here is a pro Vpn which has over 20 different...

By: TheRainPhantom

Link:
Free Pro Vpn with encryption, 20+ countries [USA, UK, FR, IT, CH and more!] 09192014, no survey! - Video

FileArmour Security Utility - A Smart File Encryption Software
Now share and access your confidential files and documents with highly secure file encryption software from FileArmour Security Utility. It #39;s free to download and uses cryptographic algorithms...

By: file armour

Read more:
FileArmour Security Utility - A Smart File Encryption Software - Video

On Thursday Google announced that the next version of Android will have encryption enabled by default, protecting user data from anyone who lacks password access. It's a feature lauded by privacy advocates, and matches Apple's new iPhone policy. But Google's new policy isn't very helpful if you own an Android phone that won't be updated to Android L for a while (if ever).

But let's not get too bent out of shape. We're here to share how you can encrypt your Android devices running the Jelly Bean and Kit Kat systems. That's right: Privacy features are already built in. You just need to turn them on.

Remember: Encryption isn't just about taking a philosophical stance in a post-Snowden legal landscape. Protecting your data against all manner of intrusion may beadvised if youre a doctor, lawyer or business person who has a legal and ethical responsibility to shield sensitive data.

Likewise, your device is full of personal and work information, like account numbers and passwords, that could be useful to racketeers and scammers.No matter who you are, you have a lot of personal and maybe professional data on your phone that you wouldnt want just anyone to access.

Your lock screen just keeps someone from using your phone. But its not too difficult to get at the data residing on your phone by plugging it into a computer via the USB port. Enter encryption, which provides a level of protection far beyond a simple lock screen code, scramblingall the data on your phone with a special cryptographic key. So even if someone pulls all the data off your phone, circumventing the lock screen, the data will be useless without your key.

Bear in mind that its hard to know when youve fully destroyed data on a phone. Forensic analysis of a defunct phone can conceivably expose info like text messages. But if the messages are encrypted to begin with, theres no way that they can be recovered.

Its not all a walk in the park. Be aware that performance on older devices can be slowed through encryption, and it can negatively impact battery life, too. If your Android phone or tablet was made in the last couple years, it likely has special hardware to speed up encryption, and the impact on speed and battery life will be negligible. Also, encryption isnt 100 percent foolproof (though it makes accessing your data so difficult and expensive, crooks probably won't take the time to break it).

Step 1: Plug in your devices power cable and allow the battery to charge. Keep the power cable connected.

Tip: The encryption process can take as long as 30 minutes or more. If your battery dies and the phone shuts off in the middle of the process, the process will fail, and youll lose data.

Step 2: Open the devices Settings and look for the Security menu item. Then select the Screen Lock menu item and choose a PIN or Password and follow the prompts to confirm it.

See the article here:
How to turn on Android encryption today (no waiting necessary)

The pre-release window for Android L continues to be full of surprises. The new Android OS, due out before the end of the year, is set to encrypt device data by default, a first for the Android universebut it'll probably be a while before default encryption comes to every Android user.

Savvy Android users already know how to keep their phones and tablets safe with encryption. Beginning with Android Honeycomb in early 2011, Google has offered access to optional full-disk encryption via the Settings app. As Honeycomb was a tablet-only release, smartphones didn't get this feature until Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was released, several months after Honeycomb.

Based on the original report from The Washington Post, it's not clear if the default encryption in Android L will just be the standard encryption Android offers now or if this will be something new. It's also unknown if people with older devices upgrading to Android L will also see encryption turned on by default.

Google was unavailable for comment at this writing, but we've asked the company for more information and will update this story should we get a response.

Defaulting to encryption is nothing but a good thing. It means bad actors (as well as overzealous law enforcement) will have a difficult time cracking into your phone without your authorization. Google won't be able to access (or hand over) your phone's data, eitheralthough law enforcement will still be able to retrieve some information from Google's servers with a proper warrant.

But even with encryption turned on by default in Android L, it will likely be a long time before the majority of Android users have devices that default to a more secure state.

Android suffers from a serious case of fragmentation. At this writing, the majority of Android users worldwide (around 54 percent) were using Android 4.1-4.3 (Jelly Bean), according to Google's own count. Only 24.5 percent meanwhile are running the most recent version of Android, version 4.4 KitKat.

The biggest problem for Android is that Google depends on phone manufacturers and carriers to roll out timely updates to older phones. That severely delays the roll out of new features to usersif devices get updated at all.

That's a decidedly different situation from iOS, where the vast majority of users are always on the latest version of iOS within a few weeks of its release. That level of adoption happens because Apple tends to roll out its latest version of iOS to as many old devices as it reasonably can. Apple also has the advantage of bypassing the carriers and supplying iOS updates directly to users. Apple devices as old as the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2 can upgrade to the just-released iOS 8.

Large scale adoption of the newest version of iOS also enables Apple to deliver important new features relatively quickly. In iOS 8, for example, Apple is beefing up device encryption so that Apple can't retrieve data protected behind a passcode. For pre-iOS 8 phones, the company could retrieve select data from iPhones and iPads.

See the rest here:
Google to turn on encryption by default in next Android version

The pre-release window for Android L continues to be full of surprises. The new Android OS, due out before the end of the year, is set to encrypt device data by default, a first for the Android universebut it'll probably be a while before default encryption comes to every Android user.

Savvy Android users already know how to keep their phones and tablets safe with encryption. Beginning with Android Honeycomb in early 2011, Google has offered access to optional full-disk encryption via the Settings app. As Honeycomb was a tablet-only release, smartphones didn't get this feature until Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was released, several months after Honeycomb.

Based on the original report from The Washington Post, it's not clear if the default encryption in Android L will just be the standard encryption Android offers now or if this will be something new. It's also unknown if people with older devices upgrading to Android L will also see encryption turned on by default.

Google was unavailable for comment at this writing, but we've asked the company for more information and will update this story should we get a response.

Defaulting to encryption is nothing but a good thing. It means bad actors (as well as overzealous law enforcement) will have a difficult time cracking into your phone without your authorization. Google won't be able to access (or hand over) your phone's data, eitheralthough law enforcement will still be able to retrieve some information from Google's servers with a proper warrant.

But even with encryption turned on by default in Android L, it will likely be a long time before the majority of Android users have devices that default to a more secure state.

Android suffers from a serious case of fragmentation. At this writing, the majority of Android users worldwide (around 54 percent) were using Android 4.1-4.3 (Jelly Bean), according to Google's own count. Only 24.5 percent meanwhile are running the most recent version of Android, version 4.4 KitKat.

The biggest problem for Android is that Google depends on phone manufacturers and carriers to roll out timely updates to older phones. That severely delays the roll out of new features to usersif devices get updated at all.

That's a decidedly different situation from iOS, where the vast majority of users are always on the latest version of iOS within a few weeks of its release. That level of adoption happens because Apple tends to roll out its latest version of iOS to as many old devices as it reasonably can. Apple also has the advantage of bypassing the carriers and supplying iOS updates directly to users. Apple devices as old as the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2 can upgrade to the just-released iOS 8.

Large scale adoption of the newest version of iOS also enables Apple to deliver important new features relatively quickly. In iOS 8, for example, Apple is beefing up device encryption so that Apple can't retrieve data protected behind a passcode. For pre-iOS 8 phones, the company could retrieve select data from iPhones and iPads.

View original post here:
Android L will turn on encryption by default

The next generation of Googles Android operating system, due for release next month, will encrypt data by default for the first time, the company said Thursday, raising yet another barrier to police gaining access to the troves of personal data typically kept on smartphones.

Android has offered optional encryption on some devices since 2011, but security experts say few users have known how to turn on the feature. Now Google is designing the activation procedures for new Android devicesso that encryption happens automatically; only somebody who enters a device's password will be able to see the pictures, videos and communications stored on those smartphones.

The move offers Android, the worlds most popular operating system for smartphones, a degree of protection that resembles what Apple on Wednesdaybegan providing for iPhones, the leading rival to devices running Android operating systems. Both companies have now embraced a form of encryption that in most cases will make it impossible for law enforcement officials to collect evidence from smartphones even when authorities get legally binding search warrants.

For over three years Android has offered encryption, and keysare not stored off of the device, so they cannot be shared with law enforcement, said company spokeswoman Niki Christoff. As part of our next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default out of the box, so you won't even have to think about turning it on.

The move, which Google officials said has been in the works for many months, is part ofa broad shift by American technology companies to make their products more resistant to government snooping in the aftermath of revelations of National Security Agency spying by former contractor Edward Snowden.

Expanded deployment of encryption by Google and Apple, however, will have the most direct impact on law enforcement officials, who have long warned that restrictions on their access to electronic devices make it much harder for them to prevent and solve crimes. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that police needed search warrants to gain access to data stored on phones in most circumstances. But that standard is quickly being rendered moot; eventually no form of legal compulsion will suffice to force the unlocking of most smartphones.

Privacy advocates are ecstatic about the changes by Apple and Google, and especially about their shift toward making encryption automatic, through default settings, so that users get privacy protections without taking any action on their own.

"Most people aren't going to go out of their way to do these things," said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist for the Center for Democracy & Technology, a Washington-based non-profit group that receives substantial industry support. "It's so awesome, as someone who has worked on these issues for a long time, to see these two companies switch their defaults to where these things will be strongly encrypted, and rightly so."

Apple and Googlehave been engaged in an increasingly pointed competition over the lucrative smartphone market, with Apple in recent weeks portraying the iPhone as a safer, more secure option despite a recent run of bad publicity over the leak of intimate photos from the Apple accounts of celebrities.

There remain significant differences between how Apple and Google are handling encryption. Apple, which controls both the hardware and software on its devices, will be able to deliver the updated encryption on both new iPhones and iPads and also most older ones, as users update their operating systems with the latest release, iOS 8.

Originally posted here:
Newest Androids will join iPhones in offering default encryption, blocking police

Encryption has been available on Android since 2011, but most users probably didn't know how to turn it on.

And for Google's next trick, the search giant will launch its next-generation Android L operating system with encryption on by default.

"For over three years Android has offered encryption, and keys are not stored off of the device, so they cannot be shared with law enforcement," a company spokeswoman told PCMag. "As part of our next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default out of the box, so you want even have to think about turning it on."

The move was first reported by The Washington Post, which noted that encryption has indeed been available on Android since 2011, but the average user was not really aware of how to turn it on.

Apple is doing something similar with iOS 8.

"On devices running iOS 8, your personal data such as photos, messages (including attachments), email, contacts, call history, iTunes content, notes, and reminders is placed under the protection of your passcode," Apple said on its website. "Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data. So it's not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8."

Tech firms like Google and Apple have been rushing to offer more secure solutions in the wake of Edward Snowden's NSA spying revelations, not to mention hacks like the recent nude celebrity photo leaks.

This summer, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that police must get a warrant before they can search the contents of your mobile device. It doesn't matter whether you carry the latest smartphone or a dated feature phone: If the cops want to know what secrets it holds, they need to talk to a judge first.

As the Post noted, Apple's iOS updates roll out all at once to eligible handsets, meaning a good number of iPhone owners will have an encrypted device very soon. Apple's iOS 8 rolled out on Wednesday, and the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which are pre-loaded with iOS 8, hit stores today in the U.S.

Android updates, meanwhile, are usually at the discretion of mobile carriers, meaning that Android L - and encryption - will be rolling out piecemeal on a device-by-device and carrier-by-carrier basis later this year.

View original post here:
Google's Android L to Include Default Encryption

Turning on data encryption can make a huge difference in case your Android device is lost or stolen, as it will make it extremely difficult -- if not impossible -- for a third-party to access yourfiles. It also gives you quite a bit of time to remotely wipe your device, which means that your photos, videos, texts and whatnot have a better chance of remaining private.

And if the local authorities want to take a peek, theyare also out of luck -- it's good news for those involved in criminal enterprises, and others as well. All this sounds great from a privacy and security standpoint, except that encryption has never been enabled by default in Android. But that is soon about to change.

In a statement that was just given to The Washington Post, Google spokesperson Niki Christoff revealsthat "As part of [Google's] next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default out of the box, so you won't even have to think about turning it on".

Google's next Android release is known as "Android L" at this stage, and will be ready for prime time later this year, if the launch date of past releases is of any indication. Android L has been made available to beta testers, and features a redesigned user interface, a new default runtime, extra security features, 64-bit support and more. You can read about it here.

The encryption key, which is needed to unlock the contents of the internal storage (and, presumably, the microSD card too), will continue to be only in your control, as it has been the case in the past three years, according to Christoff. This is very similar to how Apple's now doing things with iOS 8, which also only gives you the encryption key. To take advantage of this, a passcode must be set up.

That last bit is extremely important because encrypting an Android device without using any sort of passcode is practically impossible right now, and, frankly, pointless. For instance, Android 4.4 KitKat requires users to set up a PIN in order to encrypt the contents of the internal storage and microSD card.

How strong the PIN is will determine how easy it will be for a third-party to render your encryption efforts useless. Using a complex sequence is recommended, even though it may make the unlocking more difficult. That said, I am using an eight-digit PIN right now and I quickly got used to it.

Photo Credits:Slavoljub Pantelic/Shutterstock

Excerpt from:
Google: Android L turns data encryption on by default