Do you know how to protect the information on your phone? - Explica

Do you know how to protect the information on your phone? - Explica

Do you know how to protect the information on your phone? - Explica

Posted: 15 Apr 2020 02:29 AM PDT

It is enough to go one day on a busy street, enter a cafeteria or travel by public transport: wherever we look, there are people using their mobile phone. Its usefulness has grown so much in recent years that it has even been detrimental to the use of other equipment such as computers.

The rise of mobile applications and the ease with which we can operate instantly from our phone has evolved a lot in recent years. For example, with the recent arrival of Disney +, we only need a smartphone or tablet to register on the service and start enjoying your streaming content at the same time. A process that, in total, takes a few seconds.

However, the growth of mobile phone use also leads to the growth of more sensitive information storage and valuable that, if it falls into the wrong hands, it can be very harmful to us. To do this, it is not only necessary to have a robust password system that makes it difficult for people seeking to steal or access this data. It is also very important to have a security system that protects the phone both software and hardware.

That's what Samsung does on their devices, from the hand of Samsung Knox, creating a secure container and impassable and encrypting and protecting the data that is included.

Although Samsung Knox was born in the world of smartphones, as the IoT and the deployment of new technologies such as 5G networks, the number of devices connected to the Internet is increasing. For this reason, Samsung already deploys Samsung Knox in more product ranges, such as tablets, wearables, televisions and other smart devices.

During the boot process, if the device detects unauthorized access, it blocks the secure space on the phone where important information is stored.

By fully participating in the manufacturing and development of their devices, Samsung Knox implements security measures throughout its architecture, both hardware and software. Also avoiding unauthorized access to the kernel and modification of the code.

In the event that the phone falls into the wrong hands and to prevent security measures from being violated, during the startup process if it detects any unauthorized access, blocks the safe space of the phone, the so-called Trust Zone, keeping your information encrypted and out of the access of other people.

With all its security measures, Samsung Knox has received certifications from numerous organisms of the matter in each country of the world, such as the National Cryptological Center (CCN) in the case of Spain.

Among the latest devices that have received CCN certification are the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 phone and the Galaxy Tab Active 2 tablet. Although these have been the last to receive this certification, all Samsung devices launched on the market comply with the required security requirements.

Samsung Knox is not just for the business world. Any user who has a Samsung device can save their information in a secure way.

Regarding its scope, it may seem that Samsung Knox is aimed solely at the business, and although a large part of its customers are companies, also available for individuals. After all, more and more people are storing their information on the smartphone and need the best security tools.

According to data from the company itself, there are currently more than billion users around the world that protect your most valuable information with Samsung Knox.

What utilities does Samsung Knox offer

Users of Samsung devices will be able to keep their most valuable information safe in different applications. The first may be one of the most important today: mobile payment.

Paying with our smartphones has become something essential for many people. Some banking applications allow, through their own credentials and with the use of the NFC, to make mobile payments. However, this is not the safest process.

Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass are some of the applications that store both passwords and user biometric data in a secure area of ​​the device.

Samsung was one of the first companies to introduce its own mobile payment system, Samsung Pay. Being a native application of the device itself, our bank information can be protected in a more advanced way, securing payment credentials, something vital in these times. The constant monitoring system system ensures that both the Samsung Pay client and the payment framework and related information run in an isolated domain.

The second app protected by Samsung Knox is Samsung Pass, where all biometric passwords and records are safely stored of the user so that, when you have to validate your identity in any service to which you are subscribed, that user information is stored in a safe place.

The third application from Samsung Knox is called Secure Folder, one of the applications that have been in Knox for the longest time. Thanks to it, the user can "delete" a folder from their home screen and enter it in the Secure Folder so that cannot be accessed by someone outside the phone. Within this folder we can store any file or image that we want, and it will only be accessible if we unlock one more layer of security.

If you want to know how you can use Samsung Knox on your mobile device, and keep all important information safe, you can visit its website.

Encryption for Android (Guide) | 3 ways to Secure your Android phone - https://proprivacy.com/

Posted: 02 May 2019 12:00 AM PDT

Encryption in its most basic form is the process of changing information into illegible code to prevent people from accessing your data.

As of Android 7.0 Nougat, which was first released in March 2016, almost all Android phones come pre-encrypted. However, this encryption is not without problems. In this article, we show you several ways of encrypting your Android phone.

3 ways to encrypt your Android phone

  1. Use Third-party file Android encryption apps

    If you store highly sensitive data on your phone then, you really shouldn't trust Android's encryption. What you can do, though, is secure your data using third-party apps. 

    EDS/ EDS Lite is an open source app that allows you to store files in a secure VeraCrypt (or LUKS, EncFS, or CyberSafe) container on your phone. Cryptomator will encrypt data locally as well as securely syncing it to the cloud.
    High-end Samsung users also have the built-in Secure Folder feature, which allows you to store files and apps in a specially encrypted folder protected by the Samsung Knox security platform. Similar features are available on Huawei, OnePlus, Oppo, Viovo, and Xiaomi phones.
    Note that numerous third-party app locker apps exist, but as far as we are aware these do not actually encrypt data stored by the locked app.

  2. Enable Lockdown mode

    Android 9.0 Pie has introduced a neat feature aimed at stopping people from forcing you to unlock your phone.

    Once enabled, "Lockdown mode" brings up an "Enter Lockdown" option when you long-press the power button. Selecting it disables biometric authentication methods such as fingerprint scanning and Smart Lock (which can open your phone when connected to an authenticated WiFi network or Bluetooth device, for example). 

    To enable Lockdown mode in Android Pie 9.0 Pie:

    1. go to Settings
    2. click on security Lock screen preferences
    3. click on lock Screen Secure Lock Settings
    4. click on Show lockdown option on Samsung phones

  3. Encrypting SD Cards on Android

    Most phone manufacturers no longer support external SD card storage. A notable exception is Samsung, although others also exist. If your phone supports expandable storage then it should be possible to encrypt it.

    On a Samsung S9+, this is simply done by going to Settings, selecting Biometrics & security and choosing to Encrypt your SD card, but may vary by device. 

    SD card encryption is completely transparent in use, as long as you access encrypted files from the phone you encrypted them on.

    The files cannot now be accessed in any other way, though. If you lose or break the phone used to encrypt the SD card, you will not be able to recover data stored on it.  

Current Android Encryption

Before Android 7.0, data was protected using dm-crypt full disk encryption (FDE).

An open source transparent disk encryption subsystem used in Linux, dm-crypt is commonly used for desktop encryption. This approach works quite well on desktop computers, but not so well in Android as users rarely power their devices down.

Android enforced strong lock screen protection (via either password or fingerprint) to mitigate against this problem, but this could never be as secure as the 128-bit AES-CBC with essiv:sha256 encryption used to secure data when the device was off.

If an adversary could bypass the lock screen, a not impossible task, then the encryption keys would just be sitting there in the memory for them to grab.

Final thoughts

These days, high and mid-range Android phones all come encrypted straight out-of-the-box, and this should also soon be true of low-end Android phones. 

This is undoubtedly a step forward for the security of most phone users' personal data, but if you store sensitive files on your phone, then you should further encrypt them using something like EDS. 

The best mobile VPN apps 2020 - TechRadar UK

Posted: 15 Apr 2020 01:33 PM PDT

As we rely more and more on the web for both work and play, getting the most out of our online experience is becoming a priority for many. That's why mobile VPNs are booming right now.

A VPN can do so much more than protect your data – the power to unblock regional Netflix libraries, avoid trackers and access ISP-blocked websites will be at your fingertips.

Zoom and security – here's the latest on what's been done and what's still lacking - OnMSFT

Posted: 13 Apr 2020 11:37 AM PDT

For our regular users, we understand that Zoom is not a Microsoft product and isn't something we would normally cover, however, on occasion we feel that it is important to cover other topics that may be of interest to our users. With believe that some of the recent security updates from Zoom are important and something we want to share with you.

By now, most of us have probably Zoomed, especially since the Coronavirus pandemic has forced most of us to stay and work from home over the last few months.  Video meeting tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet have seen skyrocketing usage, including Zoom who saw their usage grow from 10 million meeting participants monthly in December to nearly 200 million in March.

Security Issues

Because of Zoom's newfound popularity,  it has come under increasing scrutiny due to privacy risks including everything from built-in attention-tracking features to "Zoombombing." For those that don't know, Zoombombing is where an uninvited attendee breaks in and disrupts the meeting, and from the company's perspective, Zoombombing is a public relations challenge as the app has become a target for hackers, cybersecurity experts and now attorney generals who are investigating the company. While it could be argued that Zoombombing is the result of bad behavior, the company's design choices and initial responses to some of the issues created the situation that they are in today.

Zoom addressing Zoombombing

To show the seriousness of the situation, the FBI has issued formal warnings about the user of Zoom, companies like Tesla have mandated their employees not to use Zoom, Germany and Singapore have warned against using Zoom, and even U.S. Senators have sent letters to the FTC to investigate the company.

While the actions of these companies and organizations are severe, the number and severity of the security issues that have been identified are a cause for real concern.

  • March 26 – Zoom iOS app sending user data to Facebook including users who did not have a Facebook account.
  • March 30 – Zoom doesn't use end-to-end encryption as promised
  • April 1 – Zoom application leaks users email addresses and photos to strangers
  • April 2 – Automated tools can find Zoom meetings
  • April 2 – Data-mining feature discovered that let some users have access to LinkedIn profile data about other users
  • April 3 – Zoom video call records left viewable on the web.
  • April 5 – Zoom calls "mistakenly" routed through Chinese whitelisted servers
  • April 6 – Zoom accounts found on the dark web including large education institutions, and a major US health care provider.

Fast Company's recent article describes the core issue as now being one of trust and whether a user can now use Zoom without fear of disclosure of chats, audio, and video from those meetings.  One of the primary issues they highlight is around encryption as the company has confirmed that data is not fully encrypted end-to-end and doesn't meet the industry standards when compared to other leading systems like Apple's iMessage, Cisco Webex and Signal.

Improving Security But Not Enough

Zoom is proactively responding to security concerns and attempting to rebuild trust while maintaining the features and capabilities that have made it so popular in the first place.  On April 8th, Zoom released multiple updates including several security updates that include a new security control for meetings and removal of meeting IDs in the toolbar, as well as a live AMA with CEO Eric Yuan.

Video Thumbnail
Ask Eric Anything

For our regular users, we understand that Zoom is not a Microsoft product and isn't something we would normally cover, however, on occasion we feel that it is important to cover other topics that may be of interest to our users. With believe that some of the recent security updates from Zoom are imp

Removal of Meeting IDs

Zoom believes they can reduce Zoombombing by removing the meeting ID from the toolbar and instead the title will simply show "Zoom" for all meetings, preventing others from seeing active meeting IDs when, for instance, Zoom screenshots are posted publicly.

Security Icon

The new security icon gives is only visible to hosts and co-hosts of Zoom Meetings, the Security icon provides easy access to several existing Zoom security features so you can more easily protect your meetings.

Video Thumbnail
Zoom Meeting Security Toolbar Icon for Hosts

For our regular users, we understand that Zoom is not a Microsoft product and isn't something we would normally cover, however, on occasion we feel that it is important to cover other topics that may be of interest to our users. With believe that some of the recent security updates from Zoom are imp

By using the Security icon, hosts and co-hosts now have access to an all-in-one place to quickly:

  • Lock the meeting
  • Enable the Waiting Room (even if it's not already enabled)
  • Remove participants
  • Restrict participants' ability to share screens, and annotate shared content

Share This Post:
-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

6 Anti-forensic techniques that every cyber investigator dreads | EC-Council Official Blog - EC-Council Blog

Image
6 Anti-forensic techniques that every cyber investigator dreads | EC-Council Official Blog - EC-Council Blog 6 Anti-forensic techniques that every cyber investigator dreads | EC-Council Official Blog - EC-Council Blog 5 best TrueCrypt alternatives | Encrypt your computer with these apps - proprivacy.com The Best Way to Encrypt Email in Outlook - Security Boulevard 6 Anti-forensic techniques that every cyber investigator dreads | EC-Council Official Blog - EC-Council Blog Posted: 23 Nov 2019 12:00 AM PST Anti-forensic techniques can make a computer investigator's life difficult. From committing fraud in an organization to stealing crucial data, cybercriminals can perform a wide range of nefarious activities. In some cases, these perpetrators try to cover their tracks by deleting browser history, cache memory, and even cookies. But with an upward trend , it is now much convenient for cyber attackers to use already progr...
Read more

How to Encrypt Your iPhone or iPad Backup - MUO - MakeUseOf

Image
How to Encrypt Your iPhone or iPad Backup - MUO - MakeUseOf How to Encrypt Your iPhone or iPad Backup - MUO - MakeUseOf Physical and Digital Safety: Arrest and detention - CPJ Press Freedom Online Mobile Encryption Market – Key Players, Size, Trends, Growth Opportunities, Analysis and Forecast To 2027 – The Courier - The Courier Fleeing WhatsApp for Better Privacy? Don't Turn to Telegram - WIRED How to Encrypt Your iPhone or iPad Backup - MUO - MakeUseOf Posted: 23 Feb 2021 12:00 PM PST [unable to retrieve full-text content] How to Encrypt Your iPhone or iPad Backup    MUO - MakeUseOf Physical and Digital Safety: Arrest and detention - CPJ Press Freedom Online Posted: 24 Feb 2021 06:14 AM PST Share this: Covering certain stories–such as human rights abuses, corruption, or civil unrest–can place you at a higher risk of arrest and detention, particularly...
Read more

A Look At Blockchain Smartphones Available Now - I4U News

Image
A Look At Blockchain Smartphones Available Now - I4U News A Look At Blockchain Smartphones Available Now - I4U News Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:19 AM PDT There is probably no one in the world who has not heard of cryptocurrencies. In the past few years, the general public's awareness of the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum has skyrocketed. This has happened to such a degree that there are literally millions of us using Bitcoin wallets offered by Luno and other well established names in the industry. On the other hand, blockchain is not necessarily that well known and its capabilities maybe a little less. So although we know that blockchain is the basis of cryptocurrencies, many of us know little more than that. Anyways, this technology is extremely adaptable and is being applied to many industries/sectors from health to disaster recovery. So that it will come as no surprise that blockchain is shifting its attention to mobile. This has resul...
Read more