Can I get some help with Encryption and ActiveSync questions?

[Retinal_Scan]

Encryption and ActiveSync questions

All-
I am being asked to enforce device encryption in our ActiveSync policies, and a few questions have come up in the discussions for this. I was hoping someone out there has the answers, or can point me in the right direction.

1. If an android device is encrypted, what is the behavior during an OS update? Will the device be decrypted, upgraded, then re-encrypted? Or will the update be done without decrypting the device?

2. What is the default timing for ActiveSync policy updates? I can set an enforced refresh interval in the policy, but I would like to know what the Android default is before doing so.

If anyone can help me find these answers, Thanks in advance!

BW

 

[Rukbat]

Re: Encryption and ActiveSync questions

1. If an android device is encrypted, what is the behavior during an OS update? Will the device be decrypted, upgraded, then re-encrypted? Or will the update be done without decrypting the device?

Since the OS isn't encrypted, the question is meaningless. The unencrypted OS will be updated with an unencrypted update. Updates don't do anything with the data - which is what's encrypted.

2. What is the default timing for ActiveSync policy updates? I can set an enforced refresh interval in the policy, but I would like to know what the Android default is before doing so.

If you're talking about Exchange Active Sync, that's set by Exchange. It's up to your mail admin.

As a side note, encryption isn't reversable - if someone has the only copy of an important document on his phone, and forgets the password, the company loses the document. Not even Google or the phone manufacturer can get it back. It's a bad policy to allow employees to keep anything on their phones that has to be encrypted. Always assume that any device that can be removed from the office - phone, tablet, laptop - can be compromised. (Remember, the NSA's "not connected to the internet" encrypted server was hacked into. If they can't prevent it, what chance does your company have?) There are more ways to skin those cats than there are cats. (Say "encrypted" at a black hat hacker conference, and wait for the hysteria to die down. Some of them will have been laughing so hard that they'll need oxygen.)