[BBjer]

OK so I was messing around with my phone settings because I had nothing at else to do. I came to the section Security and Privacy and turned on encryption. I should probably asked in the forum what this feature does because it prompted me to make a password and I did. Then it started a process that took about 30 mins. No idea what I did or how it will affect my phone. I did not turn on media card encryption only device encryption.

Can someone please explain to me what I did and if it's needed or not or if I should encrypt media card.
Sorry if I sound stupid but I just never learned what this feature does accept now I have to put in a pw....
Hoping someone has time to teach / explain what I did. I know it must be a security thing as it's in the security section.

Now I'm rather dumb..or maybe even completely dumb because I have no.idea what encryption did or does

Posted via CB10

[TheCSI]

This won't be the most detailed explanation but here goes nothing. Encryption puts a password on your data.

Without encryption, if someone pulls out your HDD and plugs it into a computer, it'll show all the files on it even if you had a password phone lock.

With encryption, if someone were to pull out your HDD and plug it somewhere, it would not show all the files on it. It would require you to enter a password to see all the files.

Same goes for the memory card. If you turn on encryption, the memory card will only work on your phone. I don't think it'll even ask for password if you plug it into a computer.

Slightly off topic: I don't know what will happen if you encryption the memory card and then format the phone. Will a format of the memory card fix it or is it gone forever? Hopefully someone will answer this.

Posted via CB10

[BBjer]

Thanks for the explanation. I thought maybe it meant my emails and texts and stuff couldn't be read by 3rd party. Because as it stands now I don't see a difference since I enabled encryption. Also that is the reason I didn't encrypt media card. As I payed almost 80 dollars for it and I'm afraid after I encrypt it will render it useless if I transfer it to z30

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[Raestloz]

slightly off topic: I don't know what will happen if you encryption the memory card and then format the phone. Will a format of the memory card fix it or is it gone forever? Hopefully someone will answer this.

Posted via cb10

z10 stl100-1/10.2.1.3175

[Richard Buckley]

Encrypting your media card won't render it useless, but if you handle it improperly you could loose the data stored there.

An encrypted media card becomes tied to the installed instance of the OS. You can't move it to another device and read it. But also if you wipe your phone you won't be able to read it. Reformatting the card will let you use it again, but your data will be lost, unless you have a backup. This is a good thing if you don't want a thief to be able to access files stored on your card.

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[BBjer]

Ahh. Ok. So it says there you can decrypt the card before wiping. So how do I do that?

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[jpvj]

This won't be the most detailed explanation but here goes nothing. Encryption puts a password on your data.

Without encryption, if someone pulls out your HDD and plugs it into a computer, it'll show all the files on it even if you had a password phone lock.

With encryption, if someone were to pull out your HDD and plug it somewhere, it would not show all the files on it. It would require you to enter a password to see all the files.

Same goes for the memory card. If you turn on encryption, the memory card will only work on your phone. I don't think it'll even ask for password if you plug it into a computer.

Slightly off topic: I don't know what will happen if you encryption the memory card and then format the phone. Will a format of the memory card fix it or is it gone forever? Hopefully someone will answer this.

Posted via CB10

To be a bit more precise: Encryption is a way of making data unreadable to anybody who does not have the "secret" also known as the key. Mathematically speaking you probably heard about strong and weak keys and ciphers. Ciphers are the specific math used to alter the data, you with to protect. You can think of it as the specific type of lock. The key is then ... they key to the lock :-)

The key is stored on the device. If it wasn't you had to enter it manually and it would be very hard to remember due to its form.

But how is the key then protected?
Since the key is quite little as opposted to the data, a password is used to protect the first key. So your password is actually another key (usually smaller and weaker unless you have a longer password) and is used to encrypt the first key.

So you know the password in your head that will decrypt the first key, which then can be used to decrypt your data.

If somebody finds your device, they have to locate the encrypted key in the device memory and find out how it was encrypted (=what is your password) before being able to decrypt and read your data.

[BBjer]

Hmm. Now I'm lost. I get the whole idea of making the data unreadable, but what exactly did it encrypt? I mean I turned encryption on then chose a password. But all seems the same. I don't have a password on my home screen so if someone were to pick my phone up now they can basically read what I read..and that seems to be everything. I fail to see how this is secure?

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[BBjer]

As for the media card I understood that completely after one explanation. But I still don't see how someone picking my phone up or stealing it is keeping my decrypted "files" safe. Or does it only actually work if I have a lock screen password activated as well? Or do you mean it just can't be intercepted (emails, photos, files) sorry as the title says. I'm a dummy when it comes to this.


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[Richard Buckley]

If you encrypt the memory, either main as you did, or SDCard, then the phone has to be unlocked with your password in order for the data to be decrypted. That is why you were required to pick a password. If someone gets posession of your phone while it is unlocked then they will have access to your data until it becomes locked. On the other hand, if you are dilligent about locking your phone, then anyone who gets posession of it would have to guess your password within ten tries to decrypt the data. After that the phone is wiped and the data is no longer accessible.

The fact that it seems to you that nothing has changed is a testiment to how well BlackBerry has written the encryption software. It might be more comforting if every time you did something it popped up a dialog saying "Decrypting" and spun a wheel for a few seconds. But that would become tedious very soon.

[TheCSI]

Encrypting your media card won't render it useless, but if you handle it improperly you could loose the data stored there.

An encrypted media card becomes tied to the installed instance of the OS. You can't move it to another device and read it. But also if you wipe your phone you won't be able to read it. Reformatting the card will let you use it again, but your data will be lost, unless you have a backup. This is a good thing if you don't want a thief to be able to access files stored on your card.

Posted via CB10

Ah so formatting a encrypted card will make it usable again. I never encrypted the memory card because of the fear that I may run an autoloader without decrypting the memory card first.

Posted via CB10

[Richard Buckley]

Ah so formatting a encrypted card will make it usable again. I never encrypted the memory card because of the fear that I may run an autoloader without decrypting the memory card first.

Posted via CB10

This would result in loosing any data on an encrypted SDCard, but the card itself would still be usable.

[akavbb]

I recently learned that I one is capable to read the data when the phone is plugged in to the pc and link is enabled.
While those to factors are true you can drag and drop the encrypted data from the SD (which link unencrypted in relation time) to the pc.
Personally, I prefer winmerge to do the dirty job for me.

Posted via CB10 | STL100-2 | Waiting for the mighty Squircle to return.

[jpvj]

It's only possible if the password is entered on the PC.

According the thread BlackBerry Link stores the password for future use. I haven't tested it so I will neither confirm or decline it.

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[pystha]

Let's say that encryption is turned on the memory card.
If I don't have link installed and at 'Storage and Access' I turn 'USB Mass Storage' ON, then can I access the memory card from a PC?

Posted via CB10 on Z10

[BBjer]

I am seriously interested in this. Plus it's hard to explain to peiple how security works when I don't even understand it. Learning though. Thanks guys.

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[BBjer]

Maybe it would be easier for dummies like me to understand if someone tells me what they 'can't do' to my phone or data or card assuming I turned on encryption , set encryption password (which I can't tell you or it wouldn't be a password :P) but no password on my phone.

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[jpvj]

No password = no access to encrypted data.

Easy right?

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[boys_inter]

Just a comment - I have always thought of enabling encryption on my BlackBerry's but never had the full details on it, now that I have a better idea thanks to this thread, It seems like a good thing with no downside, surprised that a lot more people don't do it.

[FF22]

Well, if you password protect your phone, then you might not need to separately encrypt your internal memory. Phone turns off - password is needed to gain access.

As for the card, I tend to keep not very personal stuff on it - lots of photos, music and videos. I keep personal files in Internal Memory.

[BBjer]

Yeah I decided against the card thing. It's only photos and music. And I'm starting to use a Phone Password now as well. Thanks again for all the Help here guys.

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[akavbb]

For more info.
http://forums.crackberry.com/showthread.php?t=938567

Posted via CB10 | STL100-2 | Waiting for the mighty Squircle to return.

[andre3030]

Is there a way to decrypt a SD card after wiping the phone?

Posted via CB10

[akavbb]

Nope. Everything is lost unless you have unencrypted the card before the wipe.
BUT, if you have backed up the SD, you just copy everything back and you are good to go.

Posted via CB10 | STL100-2 | Waiting for the mighty Squircle to return.

[jpvj]

Well, if you password protect your phone, then you might not need to separately encrypt your internal memory. Phone turns off - password is needed to gain access.

As for the card, I tend to keep not very personal stuff on it - lots of photos, music and videos. I keep personal files in Internal Memory.

Encryption also protects your data from being extracted from the memory chip. So if you need to hide data from the police, NSA or (evil) people with tech skills you need to enable encryption.

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