Encryption?

[Inspgadget113]

Do any of you encrypt your phone? Do you notice any lag? Is it necessary?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[dungoyle]

If you have exposed financial information or stored passwords to sites with personal information, on your phone, then you might consider encryption. I can only assume there would be a performance hit, but I confess that's pure conjecture on my part. I control access to my phone using device proximity (Moto 360), and I don't let my browser or applications remember passwords to sites that have personally identifiable information or financial data.

If you do lose your phone, there's always the nuclear option of using Android Device Manager to remote erase your device.

https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager

 

[sata]

What is the difference between using encryption and using just a PIN or Password?

 

[Inspgadget113]

From my understanding if your phone is stolen and plugged into a computer all the contents can be viewed but not if they are encrypted. I could be wrong though.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[sata]

Hmm when I plug it using the USB cable, I can not see any files, it is only identified once I enter the PIN (my phone is Not encrypted)

 

[Inspgadget113]

Try the SD card.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[dungoyle]

Here is an article that discusses the performance hit from encryption. The short version: it's small, but notable, and all the little things could add up over time to make you feel you have a slower phone with encryption enabled depending upon your mindset. How does Android Lollipop's encryption affect me? | Android Central

Here's another article that discusses the basics of encryption. What is full disk encryption in Android Lollipop? | Android Central

This snippet from the article is noteworthy:

Plenty of us will find full disk encryption useful. If you have sensitive information that you never, ever want to fall into the wrong hands on your phone, FDE is a godsend. For someone to get into your data, they must know your device password. No amount of fiddling over a wire is going to let them break in, and provided you used a strong password, your data is safe because after a handful of wrong guesses, everything goes on lockdown.

If you really want to get into the weeds, here's Google's discussion on the topic: https://source.android.com/devices/tech/security/encryption/

 

[sata]

Cant see SD Card either, only when I enter the PIN, I can see the contents of the 'Phone Name' (which is the Internal Storage and SD Card).

I believe PIN is enough for me, just wondering what encryption gives in addition.

 

[Inspgadget113]

Sorry. Remove the SD card and insert it into a card reader. All the files can be seen and moved or copied.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[RedOctobyr]

I've read that a factory reset doesn't really wipe all the data, and that it can be recovered if you want to.

So if returning/selling your phone, the suggestion was to encrypt the phone's full internal contents, then do a factory reset. Now any data that may be recoverable is also encrypted gibberish. I have been using this process before a return.

If your phone was lost, and locked, the person could do a factory reset, then try to recover your data, if they wanted. But it would be a lot harder if it was also encrypted.