I am wanting to encrypt my phone and sd card. I have been reading around about it all week and still don't understand a few things. I though that the encryption was like blackberry encryption, where you put the password in every time you turn the phone on to the screen lock. After a bit of reading, I understand that the "decryption" is only done at boot up by putting the password in once. After that, you have to put the same password in at the screen lock simply because of a limitation of Android not allowing two different passwords. I do know that there are new ways to use a different password on the screen lock, and even a pattern lock, that's not my issue.
Here are my questions....
1) If the device is technically decrypted after boot up, is the screen lock the only security on the phone once it's turned on?
2) Does the screen lock of an encrypted device have any stronger security than that of an unencrypted device? If not, it seems like the phone is still very vulnerable as long as it's turned on.
3) Finally, on a Blackberry, a wipe is performed by erasing the encryption key. This makes an almost instant wipe of the whole phone and sd card. I know an encrypted device has to be wiped the same as an unencrypted device, but is Android programmed in a way that the encryption ket is wiped first, in case someone pulls a battery or forces a phone off during a wipe? I know that's far-fetched, just curious about how it works.
When I setup my work email via the built-in email app, my company's sync server asked that I give it permission to encrypt the phone and after I gave it permission, it rebooted (it will only allow you to encrypt if the battery is like almost or fully charged), started the encryption on reboot. After the encryption, when it came back up, it asked the pin/password - which I entered - to decrypt the storage.
But the phone came up as brand new - all the apps that were installed on the device were wiped out, it asked for my Google password again to restore the account. But what was strangest of them all was, it came up in a state where WiFi cannot be turned on now While booting it says Turning on WiFi and it gets stuck there, but then I have to press Skip for it to proceed.
I am now stuck with a OnePlus device with an encrypted storage but no WiFi. Anybody run into this situation? If so, how did you resolve this?
sgwd said:
When I setup my work email via the built-in email app, my company's sync server asked that I give it permission to encrypt the phone and after I gave it permission, it rebooted (it will only allow you to encrypt if the battery is like almost or fully charged), started the encryption on reboot. After the encryption, when it came back up, it asked the pin/password - which I entered - to decrypt the storage.
But the phone came up as brand new - all the apps that were installed on the device were wiped out, it asked for my Google password again to restore the account. But what was strangest of them all was, it came up in a state where WiFi cannot be turned on now While booting it says Turning on WiFi and it gets stuck there, but then I have to press Skip for it to proceed.
I am now stuck with a OnePlus device with an encrypted storage but no WiFi. Anybody run into this situation? If so, how did you resolve this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the exact same boat. Encrypted the phone, reset all data, and now, no wifi.
Same Problem
khaspir said:
I'm in the exact same boat. Encrypted the phone, reset all data, and now, no wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did my encryption today due to the company policy and facing the same wifi problems. Please let me know what the resolution for this?
Same problem here, running latest OTA.
Valme00 said:
Same problem here, running latest OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lost all my data yesterday after trying to encrypt my phone. Formatted /data to restore ext4 and made a clean Reset/Flash.
As all my data was lost anyway, this was the cleanest solution back to a working phone.
I want to have my phone f*cking encrypted. I can tolerate that this is an issue with custom roms made by private fellas in their free time for fun.
But as a company...?! At least removing this point from the menu would have been an option
I had the same issue with work email and my new OnePlus One. Here's how I fixed it:
1. Factory reset the One.
2. When you turn on the phone for the first time, don't set anything up, just go straight into settings and encrypt the phone.
3. After the encryption is complete, you'll have to set up your phone again.
4. Before installing anything else, set up your work email. You'll still be prompted for the security administrator privileges, but when it gets to the point where it would normally demand that you encrypt, it sees that you are already encrypted, and nothing bad happens to your wifi.
I hope this helps, it took me a whole day of fiddling to figure it out.
sgwd said:
When I setup my work email via the built-in email app, my company's sync server asked that I give it permission to encrypt the phone and after I gave it permission, it rebooted (it will only allow you to encrypt if the battery is like almost or fully charged), started the encryption on reboot. After the encryption, when it came back up, it asked the pin/password - which I entered - to decrypt the storage.
But the phone came up as brand new - all the apps that were installed on the device were wiped out, it asked for my Google password again to restore the account. But what was strangest of them all was, it came up in a state where WiFi cannot be turned on now While booting it says Turning on WiFi and it gets stuck there, but then I have to press Skip for it to proceed.
I am now stuck with a OnePlus device with an encrypted storage but no WiFi. Anybody run into this situation? If so, how did you resolve this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey guys
I flashed the factory images last night effectively wiping my Nexus 5 and starting from scratch. I did not restore apps and settings either. After I manually installed a bunch of my apps back and changed around a few settings, I decided to enable encryption. However, I don't think it enabled properly.
First, I had not set a PIN lock on my phone yet at the time.
When I decided to enable encryption and go through the process, it didn't ask me to enter a PIN.
It seemingly completed encrypting the phone. When I go back to the security menu, it says "Encrypted".
However, I am not prompted to enter a PIN upon booting the phone (not talking about the lock screen PIN).
So, it seems like it didn't work but I'm not sure. Has anyone else enabled encryption yet?
and yes, I saw the performance degradation that comes with enabling encryption but I'd rather have the security.
definitely sounds like there's an issue there. Do you have a custom recovery? If so, you could boot into that, pull some data and see if it opens. If it does, yeah its not encrypted.
Not worth mentioning degradation. All encryption always has and always will have performance degradation. It's par for the course
That sounds like a good idea. If it's not encrypted, then I guess the only method is to wipe and reinstall again.
mattkroeder said:
That sounds like a good idea. If it's not encrypted, then I guess the only method is to wipe and reinstall again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think so. You can't reverse the encryption flag without a wipe I dont think
mattkroeder said:
Hey guys
I flashed the factory images last night effectively wiping my Nexus 5 and starting from scratch. I did not restore apps and settings either. After I manually installed a bunch of my apps back and changed around a few settings, I decided to enable encryption. However, I don't think it enabled properly.
First, I had not set a PIN lock on my phone yet at the time.
When I decided to enable encryption and go through the process, it didn't ask me to enter a PIN.
It seemingly completed encrypting the phone. When I go back to the security menu, it says "Encrypted".
However, I am not prompted to enter a PIN upon booting the phone (not talking about the lock screen PIN).
So, it seems like it didn't work but I'm not sure. Has anyone else enabled encryption yet?
and yes, I saw the performance degradation that comes with enabling encryption but I'd rather have the security.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure, but i think it's designed to works just like that, the encryption key is not the PIN anymore but something (random?) that is stored somewhere on the phone.
that would protect the data in case someone tries to read it directly from the phone's memory, but useless if you don;t have a PIN/PASSWORD.
I avoided encryption before for exactly that reason (requiring a password to boot). If I lose the phone I want the person that found/stole it to be able to at least boot it. if the person is not a thief there's a contact number so they can call me to give it back. if he/she's a thief well, as long as it's on I can call it, track it, wipe it. even brick it.
by not being able to boot it, the chances of getting it back are 0 if the battery dies or is dead!
http://readwrite.com/2014/10/28/google-android-lollipop-encryption-issues
there isn't much info out there about it.
kenshin33 said:
Not sure, but i think it's designed to works just like that, the encryption key is not the PIN anymore but something (random?) that is stored somewhere on the phone.
that would protect the data in case someone tries to read it directly from the phone's memory, but useless if you don;t have a PIN/PASSWORD.
I avoided encryption before for exactly that reason (requiring a password to boot). If I lose the phone I want the person that found/stole it to be able to at least boot it. if the person is not a thief there's a contact number so they can call me to give it back. if he/she's a thief well, as long as it's on I can call it, track it, wipe it. even brick it.
by not being able to boot it, the chances of getting it back are 0 if the battery dies or is dead!
http://readwrite.com/2014/10/28/google-android-lollipop-encryption-issues
there isn't much info out there about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went ahead and wiped the phone again. I reinstalled lollipop and made sure to enable a lockscreen PIN before I enabled encryption. It seems to have encrypted properly. It prompts me for my PIN at boot up now.
You make a good point about encryption making it more difficult for someone to get a hold of me if I lose the phone though.
Same problem here, with Nexus 5 and Android v5
My work Exchange server enforces a security policy to the phone which forces you to enable encryption. So I went ahead and did that, and the email app is still saying that encryption needs to be enabled. When I reboot the phone I never get prompted for a PIN to decrypt the device, yet in the settings screen it says it is encrypted.
I'm going to have to re-flash. Is it possible the issue is caused by leaving the bootloader unlocked? or is this is a bug?
EDIT: Update. Reflashed, but first thing I did was relock the bootloader and enable a security screenlock PIN, *then* encrypted the phone. Now it's prompting me for a PIN on boot and looks like it's worked. Hope the Exchange email policy stays happy this time, as it worked before for about a day before it complained about the lack of encryption
this worked for me also
I did what was stated below and it worked....
1. reflashed,
2. locked bootloader
3. created lock pin
4. encrypted, THEN
5. added MDM control (MAAS360) and exchange email.
It seems to work OK now.
Thanks!
JoyrexJ9 said:
Same problem here, with Nexus 5 and Android v5
My work Exchange server enforces a security policy to the phone which forces you to enable encryption. So I went ahead and did that, and the email app is still saying that encryption needs to be enabled. When I reboot the phone I never get prompted for a PIN to decrypt the device, yet in the settings screen it says it is encrypted.
I'm going to have to re-flash. Is it possible the issue is caused by leaving the bootloader unlocked? or is this is a bug?
EDIT: Update. Reflashed, but first thing I did was relock the bootloader and enable a security screenlock PIN, *then* encrypted the phone. Now it's prompting me for a PIN on boot and looks like it's worked. Hope the Exchange email policy stays happy this time, as it worked before for about a day before it complained about the lack of encryption
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mattkroeder said:
Hey guys
I flashed the factory images last night effectively wiping my Nexus 5 and starting from scratch. I did not restore apps and settings either. After I manually installed a bunch of my apps back and changed around a few settings, I decided to enable encryption. However, I don't think it enabled properly.
First, I had not set a PIN lock on my phone yet at the time.
When I decided to enable encryption and go through the process, it didn't ask me to enter a PIN.
It seemingly completed encrypting the phone. When I go back to the security menu, it says "Encrypted".
However, I am not prompted to enter a PIN upon booting the phone (not talking about the lock screen PIN).
So, it seems like it didn't work but I'm not sure. Has anyone else enabled encryption yet?
and yes, I saw the performance degradation that comes with enabling encryption but I'd rather have the security.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you set up a screen lock pin the phone will ask you then if you would like the PIN to be enabled or not at boot.
kenshin33 said:
Not sure, but i think it's designed to works just like that, the encryption key is not the PIN anymore but something (random?) that is stored somewhere on the phone.
that would protect the data in case someone tries to read it directly from the phone's memory, but useless if you don;t have a PIN/PASSWORD.
I avoided encryption before for exactly that reason (requiring a password to boot). If I lose the phone I want the person that found/stole it to be able to at least boot it. if the person is not a thief there's a contact number so they can call me to give it back. if he/she's a thief well, as long as it's on I can call it, track it, wipe it. even brick it.
by not being able to boot it, the chances of getting it back are 0 if the battery dies or is dead!
http://readwrite.com/2014/10/28/google-android-lollipop-encryption-issues
there isn't much info out there about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for OT, but how can you remotely brick your phone? Just curious in case I ever need to. Don't live in the best of neighborhoods. I can remote wipe, track, take pics. The normal lost/stolen stuff, but I haven't heard of remotely bricking a phone ever.
Nexus 5 still looking to be encrypted
Only a temp fix---Both my Nexus 7, and Nexus 5 just started asked to be encrypted again....
This is still a problem with Lollipop
thegasmaster said:
I did what was stated below and it worked....
1. reflashed,
2. locked bootloader
3. created lock pin
4. encrypted, THEN
5. added MDM control (MAAS360) and exchange email.
It seems to work OK now.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wipe efs partition (I do have a backup on my computer) and the phone is no longer a phone.
Just to be clear, you can enable encryption on Android 5.0, and it will not force you to lock the phone. (Like the PIN screen and boot lock). When you buy a Nexus 6/9 the data partition is encrypted but there's no lock set. The following is from this article;
First, the encryption doesn't help much if you haven't set a passcode. Ludwig said studies have shown that roughly have of users don't set passcodes on their devices, largely because they find it inconvenient to keep entering them dozens of times a day. Lollipop will still encrypt your data, but it will also automatically decrypt it in normal use. So if you don't have a passcode, much of your information will be available to anyone who picks up your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if you've enabled encryption, and gone through the process, you're phone data partition is encrypted. It's just not locked down until you use some kind of phone lock too. BTW, the article goes on to describe the limited usefulness of having an encrypted data partition and no phone lock;
Lollipop's encryption still offers some limited protection even under those circumstances—for instance, by protecting stored data against anyone who tries to read it directly from the phone's memory. That could shield user passwords and other sensitive data from attackers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As to why Exchange policies don't see the phone as encrypted is probably due to another issue.
Setting PIN to be required at startup after encryption possible fix
I now have my Nexus 5 & 7 working with exchange on Lollipop using this-
1. Reflashed Lollipop
2. Let phone reinstall all my apps
3. Locked bootloader.
4. Set a screen lock PIN
5. Encrypt phone
6. Set screen lock PIN to be required on start up (this was missing before!)
7. Installed MDM control via Mass360-all policies look to be met, including encryption
8. Installed my exchange account via Gmail
//code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79342
Updated thread with solution
---
* It used to be that when I did a reboot or shutdown and restart, I would have to enter a password before the system fully started.
* But now the phone boots into the phone without putting in my password. I can reboot the phone and it will boot all the way to the Lock screen, and I can unlock the lock screen with my fingerprint or my backup password.
* I am concerned that somehow my device is either no longer encrypted or that there is some setting which has stored the boot password.
--
Solution :
For those of you who find they have this problem and have not solved it, I found a solution that works, related to a bug (feature?) in Accessibility.
Apologies if this was suggested further in the thread, and that I'm replying to an old post. But I recently had this problem and figured out a solution.
- Accessibility was enabled and for some reason this cached the boot password. So- when I removed the app (rights) and turned off accessibility, and changed (reset/reentered) the password in security settings... On next boot the phone correctly asked me for password.
YMMV.
subs said:
I posted this elsewhere... But I'm having the same problem. Any thoughts? I can post more details, but don't want to repost this everywhere that I see people having the same unresolved problem.
---
* It used to be that when I did a reboot or shutdown and restart, I would have to enter a password before the system fully started.
* But now the phone boots into the phone without putting in my password. I can reboot the phone and it will boot all the way to the Lock screen, and I can unlock the lock screen with my fingerprint or my backup password.
* I am concerned that somehow my device is either no longer encrypted or that there is some setting which has stored the boot password.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, please try not to bump threads almost a year old. I realise that it might have taken you a while to actually reach this thread, but hear me out.
Opening a new thread is always better, since software versions, features and devices are most likely different, along with different device usage habits/users.
You say you're having "the same problem"... as.. who exactly? There's a bunch of different specific "issues" that relate to encryption. Be specific.
For instance, you mentioning fingerprint sensor leads me to presume that you are not using a Nexus 5.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk
I just got my pixel, and found two very bitter disappointments. First, as expected, even an unrooted device will not pass safetynet (i.e., let you run android pay) if you've unlocked the bootloader.
Second, however, and a bit more of a shock, there appears to be no way to require a passphrase on bootup. The option on the nexus 5X and 6P that you get while selecting a PIN simply does not exist. So does this mean there is basically no way to secure my phone?
This is doubly infuriating. On one hand Google wants to prevent me from learning my own device encryption keys, supposedly in the name of security. But then on the other hand, they reserve the right to extract my keys themselves if they ever sign a backdoored bootloader (that can extract the now unencrypted keys from firmware).
For me the whole benefit of the fingerprint reader has been that it lets me select a very long boot passphrase, since I don't have to type it to unlock the phone. However, I'm now seriously considering removing the PIN from my lockscreen so I don't delude myself into storing anything of value on my phone.
Am I the only one super annoyed at these security developments?
Mine asks for my pin on first login.
Moogagot said:
Mine asks for my pin on first login.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but by the time it prompts for a PIN, it has clearly already decrypted the flash storage. So this means that if your bootloader is unlocked, someone could have messed with your system partition to bypass the lockscreen.
15xda said:
Yes, but by the time it prompts for a PIN, it has clearly already decrypted the flash storage. So this means that if your bootloader is unlocked, someone could have messed with your system partition to bypass the lockscreen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not true. With device encrypted data and Direct Boot enabled, this restricted mode allows apps to perform limited actions and access non-personal data (i.e. specific system files), allowing it to boot up to the lock screen securely without any user interaction.
You have to enable it though, by going to developer options and selecting "covert to file encryption”. This WILL perform a factory reset though.
msaitta said:
That's not true. With device encrypted data and Direct Boot enabled, this restricted mode allows apps to perform limited actions and access non-personal data (i.e. specific system files), allowing it to boot up to the lock screen securely without any user interaction.
You have to enable it though, by going to developer options and selecting "covert to file encryption”. This WILL perform a factory reset though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no "convert to file encryption" option in the developer options on the Pixel. Anyway, since the lock screen shows personal images and notifications and such, clearly a lot of data is available if someone decrypts the file system, even if there were an option to double-encrypt a few individual sensitive files. Anyway, what are the chances that every app developer encrypts every file I care about? This is why I want full device encryption, and I want full device encryption without storing my keys someplace where a backdoored bootloader can get at them.
15xda said:
Anyway, since the lock screen shows personal images and notifications and such, clearly a lot of data is available if someone decrypts the file system, even if there were an option to double-encrypt a few individual sensitive files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I stand partially corrected, actually. The device definitely seems to show some of my settings on reboot, like, for instance, volume. On the other hand, it can't receive VOIP calls (suggesting it doesn't have access to the SIP password I configured in the dialer), and incoming mobile calls don't show the contact name. So I guess it does offer some protection, but it's much harder to figure out what.
In case anyone lands on this thread, here is an explanation of what is happening on bootup:
https://developer.android.com/training/articles/direct-boot.html
The short answer is Pixel uses file-based-encryption now instead of disk-based encryption. I'm still not happy about this design because it somewhat reduces privacy and potentially complicates examining applications as root, but it's not as bad as I originally throught.
I found this older thread about the POCO X3 NFC: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/phone-says-its-encrypted-but-is-it-really.4167645/
I do not know if the info there is also valid for the X3 Pro ... or if it even was correct in the first place. (Cause just 1 other user mentioned this and no one else talked about it.)
In the 2nd post there is tha guy mentioning that MIUI is not changing the decryption keys when changing the password. Is this a problem?
I have bootloader unlocked and Magisk + LSposed installed. Using the latest stock MIUI. From what I have read online ... unlocking hte bootloader just allows to tamper more with the device - and allows an attacker to bypass the hardware security stuff to run brute force without using the phone (to bypass rate limits and run brute force very fast) - shouldn'd that still be safe with a long password?
Well Android allows at max 16 chars and I am using 16 chars letter, numbers, special chars now + biometrics for screen unlock. After the boot it seems it forces you to put in the password. (Biometrics not working.) TWRP decryption is working - and only works with the password I put. (Not with "default_password".) Even when adb is enabled (I usually leave USB debugging disabled) it seems not to work unless I also change the charging options to allow file transfer (not only charging battery) - which always seems to reset to recharging battery only after a reboot. (And not allow for changes unless passwort is put in once at least.)
I am talking mainly about attacks where you are able to power off your phone and someone else gets physical access to it. (Like police or NSA lol. After I got it back I would always completely wipe it to make sure they have not installed some keyloggers.) Unless the bootloader and internal keystore somehow (I do not have much knowledge about this) just checks your passwort but is still using "default_password" in the background (and TWRP also works using this) should not a strong password be safe?
I think the key generation with "default_password" itself still would have some random compoment (every time you reset the sytsem and it gets newly encrypted)? And it only matters if that "key encryption key" gets re-encrypted when changing the password. (And not only encrypted/hashed with "default_password".) As mentioned here by Elcomsoft: https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2018/05/demystifying-android-physical-acquisition/
"It still takes effort to decrypt the smartphone even if the data is encrypted with “default_password”. Much depends on the encryption implementation of a particular vendor. As an example, some vendors will not re-encrypt the KEK (Key Encryption Key) when the user changes their passcode; this in turn allows decrypting the data regardless of the current passcode by simply using “default_password”. The same situation occurs if, at the time of the initial setup, the vendor opts to start encrypting the phone before the user sets the passcode. According to Oxygen, this is exactly what happens on Motorola smartphones, which can be extracted and decrypted regardless of the lock screen password – but only if Secure Startup is not enabled."
(This info still seems to be for the old FDE but I think it should be similar fo file based encryption which is used in the POCO X3 Pro?)
If the TWRP only works with the correct password (otherwise showing encrypted stuff for the files that are supposed to be encrypted in th FBE - not everything like in the FDE but still enough I think) ... is it safe to say that this key encryption key is getting re-encrypted?