Google’s devices have offered the option of encryption, but many users did not make use of the feature. Google has announced that its next mobile operating system, Android L, will encrypt users’ data by default.
The measure will make it more difficult for private information to be hacked or handed to law enforcement agencies. On Thursday, Apple said that devices running its new iOS8 software would be encrypted by default, with even the company itself unable to gain access. Both firms have offered encryption for some time, but many users were unaware of its existence or had not enabled it.
The introduction of default encryption also protects US firms from having to hand over data to law enforcement agencies. Both Apple and Google follow in the footsteps of the now somewhat beleaguered Blackberry, which has encrypted data by default for some time. As the companies themselves do not have access to users’ passwords, which unlock the encryption, they are not actually in possession of the data concerned.
Several of the largest US tech firms have been fighting government requests for their users’ private data, including Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Facebook and Dropbox. David Emm, a senior researcher at security firm Kaspersky Lab, said that automatic encryption was “probably more about privacy than about protection”. “Customers will find some reassurance in the fact that their data can’t routinely fall into third-party hands,” he said. However he added that the measure only “applies to stuff on a [Apple or Android] device, but not necessarily to stuff you put in the cloud, which could still be accessible to law enforcement agencies”.
