Encryption: enhanced data security on Android would be … – Tudocelular.com

Fragmentation is still a serious problem in Android. In the report released this month by Google, Lollipop took nearly 18 months to finally overcome the KitKat as the most popular version of the system, while the Marshmallow still suffers from its 2% market share. This fragmentation creates a major security problem, since it is difficult for Google to control the use of encryption in the market appliances, especially when it is up to each manufacturer to activate or not this feature on each device.

A report released by the Wall Street Journal shows the stark difference between security on Android and iOS when it refers to the encryption of user data. While the Apple devices we see that 95% are already protected by this type of digital security, the little robot’s hand the reality is quite different, with only 2% of the market Android devices being with encryption enabled.

Google only began to take seriously the issue from the Android Lollipop it had the option to encrypt user data during system boot, but that ended up impacting the performance and battery life, which made the manufacturers avoid using such protection feature on their handsets launched with this system. With Marshmallow, Google made changes to make the encryption more feasible, but as only the Nexus line and some other devices receive this version, just seeing the lamentable numbers.

And how Google intends to improve this situation? From what has been seen with the first preview version of Android N, the search giant plans to separate the system into two parts – the first is the base system and the second would be the interface with apps running on top. Thus, the core of the system would be the same for each device, where manufacturers would modify only the top. This would ensure that Google can release updates directly to each smartphone without having to wait for modifications of manufacturers.

But still have a problem. To completely stop this lack of security in Android, all smartphones in the market need to be upgraded to Android N, and it will never happen. If today we still see devices on the market running Froyo which was launched in 2011, to when we will see devices running the Marshmallow and earlier?