[maxknux]

I have a Bold 9900 and I like it so far but now I am on a path to encrypt and secure all my Data.

I was wondering if I do enable Encrypt device Memory, what are the pros and cons in it?

Like will it prevent backups to BlackBerry Protect?

How about encrypting the media Card? Will that prevent me from importing pictures and other media. Can I add files to media card and will BlackBerry automatically encrypt the new data?

Now Truecyrpt for USB

[maxknux]

Any examples of using encrypt device memory?

[emtunc]

Some applications will refuse to work with device memory encrypted. For example, the Dropbox application errors out when encryption is enabled. This is more of an issue on behalf of the developers and not RIM.

BB Protect may not work... I have a feeling it won't.

The phone will be a bit slower. This is something I noticed when I had mine encrypted. Not considerably slow but noticeable... especially when you'd want to use your phone and the cache/content clear function was being executed.
This is an inherent, expected behaviour as your device is constantly encrypting/decrypting the file system... I suspect the BB10 phones with dual-core CPUs will minimise the laggy behaviour.

I stopped encrypting my SD card when I realised how frustrating it was when I couldn't copy/paste files from the card to my PC. When they're encrypted, they are turned in to a BB proprietary (if my memory serves me correctly) format and makes it a huge hassle to get them anywhere else but the phone they were originally encrypted on.
What makes it worse is that even when you turn off encryption, the files remain in the encrypted format and you have to manually copy/paste the files on the media card/file system for it to be saved in a non-encrypted state.

Tl:dr - You will most likely experience difficulty accessing some apps, notice a bit of lag and all-over hassle accessing files from the device other than your phone.

I take security very seriously but I much prefer a usable phone over the chance that my phone is lost/stolen.

Even if it is lost or stolen, I have BB Protect which I could use to track/wipe my phone... and if for some reason, the device is not in a network coverage area, my phone is password locked so it would take the person with my phone some considerable effort to access data direct from the device. I don't use an SD card (9900 has 8GB storage which is more than enough for me) but if I did, I may or may not have done something different

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[papped]

If you're using a device password, the only encryption that would really matter is sdcard encryption, since it can be removed and data can be recovered even if the device itself was wiped. Even then though, having to deal with the encryption on the sdcard is a hassle.

Better off just using a device password and keep anything highly sensitive on device memory.

[T�nis]

It's been a long day, so I'll come back to this with some thoughts/tips. Encryption is totally worth it, but you do have to know what you're doing.

[hornlovah]

A few thoughts: BlackBerry Protect will not work, but there are apps that will locate your phone and automatically back up contacts, email, sms, memos, tasks, events, call logs, etc... You have to use the Files feature in Desktop Manager to transfer encrypted files from your phone to your computer. If you use Desktop Manager's Media Sync to transfer files to your device, these files will be encrypted. If you simply drag and drop to the phone, the files will not be encrypted.

I don't see a big performance hit with encryption enabled, but I'm not getting 30 emails an hour either. I do notice a short lag when the device is changing locked states – it takes a couple of seconds to swap out encryption keys. When you first enable encryption, it will take several minutes to encrypt the data and securely clean your memory. I think that secure garbage collection (zeroing out deleted encrypted data) is one of the biggest pros of encryption.

Media card encryption is a bit trickier. Even if you don't store confidential data on your media card, some apps do. If you want to share your media card with another device, you have to use the Device Password option. If you don't use a strong password, it is possible to attack the password on your media card to reveal your device password. Device Password & Device Key is the safest option, but you have to back up frequently in case your card fails.

The Encryption Strength option controls the strength of the encryption keys used to encrypt data received while the phone is locked. If your password is 12 characters or more, set the encryption strength to Stronger. If your password is at least 21 characters, use the Strongest option.

[FF22]

I thought I recall reading that if you encrypt the media card with bb phoneA, that if that phone fails, the media card canNOT be read by a replacement bb phoneB. Does anyone know if that is correct?

Or is the media card encrypted using your bbphone password?

[hornlovah]

I thought I recall reading that if you encrypt the media card with bb phoneA, that if that phone fails, the media card canNOT be read by a replacement bb phoneB. Does anyone know if that is correct?

Or is the media card encrypted using your bbphone password?

Device Password is the only option that will allow you to move the media card to another device. If you use a weak password on your phone, there is some risk that someone could recover your phone password from your media card. Media cards encrypted with the other two options, Device Key or Device Key & Password, cannot be read by another device.

[iawra]

I used encryptation for a while on my device, on SD card too, but I ended up turning off this security feature. The main reason was that music playback hung up now and then, and music sync take ages to finish.

[maxknux]

Thanks guys for your advice.

I am going to go without encryption since it will not work with BlackBerry Protect.

I also had that problem of not being able to read the memory card after moving to a different phone. so no go on the media card.

I will stick with remote locking and wiping the phone. The cool thing about BlackBerry Protect is that you can remote wipe the media card as well.

[NursingNinja]

Is anyone able to explain the different strength factors?