Google to introduce default data encryption with Android L to ensure security

Reportedly Google will step up the security efforts on Android and pave way for device encryption by default. A Wall Street Journal report states that the search engine giant will release the Android L platform in October for the first time with encrypting data by default. This move will provide Google an additional layer of security on the user’s personal and sensitive data that are stored on the smartphones.

Monday, September 29, 2014

/ by Abhinaya

Reportedly Google will step up the security efforts on Android and pave way for device encryption by default. A Wall Street Journal report states that the search engine giant will release the Android L platform in October for the first time with encrypting data by default. This move will provide Google an additional layer of security on the user’s personal and sensitive data that are stored on the smartphones.

Android L

Android being the most popular mobile platform has been providing encryption options since 2011, but these options are not offered by default. Also, it is claimed that only few users know about these encryption features to keep their data secured. Of course, Google is working to tweak this activation process for the upcoming Android L update to automatically activate data encryption. This way, the smartphone will need a password before providing access to communications, videos, pictures and other data stored in it.

Confirming this, the report quotes a Google spokeswoman, Niki Christoff saying, "As part of our next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default out of the box, so you won't even have to think about turning it on."

This announcement from Google comes in after its direct competitor Apple announced that it will be expanding its two factor authentication method to add the iCloud cloud storage system that was attacked lately revealing exposed pictures of some celebrities.

With these announcements, both Google and Apple being the top mobile operating systems will be adding data encryption to provide added support for their users. Moreover, industry experts claim that these changes are interesting and users can protect their privacy without any additional effort from their side.

For Apple it could be simple to keep the latest version of its operating system, iOS 8 loaded with security measures as the firm is known for the same. However, Google might find it hard to incorporate such features to its upcoming Android L update as the platform suffers from de-fragmentation as numerous versions are found in devices across the world. Many of these devices run Android OS versions that are outdated, thereby exposing them to security issues.

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