So today in this guide we are going to talk about encrypting your Android phone, as we already know encryption is a method of securing your data over the phone with a key so that no-one can recover it in case if you end up losing your android phone. All new iPhones are now being provided with encryption enabled on them by default and the latest controversy over iPhone encryption between Apple and FBI must be in knowledge of yours, where FBI demanded from Apple to give him the key to the criminal’s iPhone and apple denied it.
Google and also announced to launch the new phones with encryption enabled by default, and also working for the same.
Need for encrypting your Android Phone
Almost every Android user keeps a vast amount of data stored on their phones which include media files, emails, addresses, and contacts and most importantly online banking details. So overall the data is very sensitive, and if it falls into wrong hands, then it will be a tragedy for the Android user.
There are screen locks available on android phones but they are not sufficient for complete safeguards of the user, and a tech-savvy could easily get around them. And in such scenarios encrypting your phone is really helpful because even NSA has not been able to break into such type of encrypted devices.
Why Not to Encrypt Your Android Phone
Although encrypting your android phone has a lot of benefits to it, there is one downside to it as well. Encryption/decryption is bound to take a lot of processing power of the phone, so if you have a less powerful hardware, you are probably going to notice a reduction in the system speed.
Also, once you have encrypted your android phone there is no decrypting it back without losing all the data that was encrypted, and the encryption could only be reversed by factory resetting your android phone which in itself means the loss of all the stored data.
Legal Status of Encryption
Encryption of your phone is legal almost everywhere. In the US, the Supreme Court of State of California has ruled in the favor of encryption and has said that a warrant is required to search a phone which is encrypted. Also in Canada, the same ruling has been made by the Court of Appeals for Ontario. In US citizens are protected by the Fifth Amendment Right, which talks about self-incrimination, but the citizens in the UK can be legally compelled to disclose the key or password under the key disclosure laws.
How Strong is Encryption on Android Phone
Android Phone is encryption is based upon an open source disk encryption system used in Linux. It uses cipher mode, and the master key is protected using AES-128, to further harden the master password against any kind of brute force attack to crack the password.
Encrypting Your Android Phone
Here I will explain how you can encrypt your modern android phones without any hassle. Every mobile which is launched with Android OS above version 4+ comes with the function of encrypting your phone, this function could easily be found under the settings menu and then by heading to the security tab of your android phone. Before beginning with the encryption make sure to plug in your phone for charging because encryption can take a long time depending upon the content of data available on your android phone which is to be encrypted. Before initiating the encryption process of your android phone you will be asked to choose a password key, so choose a key which is not easy to guess and do not forget the password key.
In this same way, the SD-Card of your Android Phone could also be encrypted, and the setting could be found under the same tab. So follow along and the process will be very easy to carry out.
EndNote
Data is valuable nowadays and with the popularity of modern devices it’s even more vulnerable than ever, so if you wish to protect your data then encrypting your android phone will be a very handy tool. Hope this guide will be helpful in deciding if you should encrypt your phone and help you guide through the process if you decide to do so.
