[thymaster]

So should I turn on the Encryption option in settings or not?

If so...
Does it slow the OS down because it's running in the background?
What does it really encrypt and not encrypt?
Will it drain my battery faster?
What am I being protected from and what am I still vulnerable to?
Overall how secure is it compare to other method?
Am I still safe from cloud service hackers?
What type of encryption method is Blackberry using?

Let's clear the air on some security myth.

[R3d13]

So should I turn on the Encryption option in settings or not?

You should turn it on if you have data that you want to protect, such as sensitive documents, or maybe photos that you don't want to risk getting leaked. Just keep in mind that even with encryption enabled, there's nothing that will guarantee your documents or photos if you're sharing them with people. THEY could leak them accidentally or otherwise.

If so...
Does it slow the OS down because it's running in the background?

Don't know.. always had it on.

What does it really encrypt and not encrypt?

Device encryption is for the entire Device's local contents. Media encryption will encrypt the entire SD card's contents. If you choose to encrypt both, make sure you turn off Media encryption before you wipe your device if you ever need to do so.

Will it drain my battery faster?

Don't know.. always had it on.

What am I being protected from and what am I still vulnerable to?

Virtually everyone except for probably the NSA and such

Overall how secure is it compare to other method?

I'm not aware of any other method to secure the device besides BES for communications.

Am I still safe from cloud service hackers?

No, you should use encrypted cloud services. Drop DropBox and go for Tresorit or something like it.

What type of encryption method is Blackberry using?

With BES, it uses 256-bit AES end-to-end encryption. I'm not sure if it's the same for non-BES users.

[Maxxxpower]

When encrypting your device and your SD card you should keep in mind that encrypting your SD card gives you a small bonus protection against some kiddes trying to get your data after stealing your phone (or similar cases). But, when doing so you open a big security hole concerning people that have a portion of knowledge as they can use your SD to get your device password. Once "they" have access to the SD card through a brute force attack (which is possible as it can be popped out of your device) "they" have access to your phone as it uses the same password as the one they received from the SD. So the decision whether you encrypt you SD card or not depends on you what kind of protection you want and how realistic you estimate the different scenarios. I'd prefer not to encrypt the SD and store only harmless information on it like mp3 files.

EPB Help - decrypt Blackberry SD card

[R3d13]

Very good to know!

[chevpower394]

This is talking about using the security password encryption on the old BBOS phones

NOTE: Media Card encryption should be set to either*Security Password*or*Device Password*mode (but not to*Device Key*or*Device Password & Device Key) in the phone settings.

And BlackBerry 10 only uses the device password and device key one. Doesn't this mean this tool would not work for BB10?

Check out IWIK at BBM Channel C002FA57C

[Maxxxpower]

Yes, parts of the documentation are old stuff, but others have been updated (see working with Blackberry backups). The device settings have changed in BB10 (only encryption on and off for sd and device are left) but the problem stays the same. The only way to eliminate this "backdoor" would be forcing users to have different passwords for device, SD (and SIM).
EDIT: And even in this case, a popped out SD will never be protected against bruteforce attacks (in contrast to your BB), because of this, the files saved on the SD will always be less secured than the ones saved on your device.

[chevpower394]

I thought these encryptions used a user password and a password from the device, so even if the sd card is used in a different device or a different install on the same device it isn't accessible. Or just you would have to brute force 2 passwords?

Check out IWIK at BBM Channel C002FA57C