I've been an android user since the beginning, and with each new release we see various fixes and tweaks, and I dont normally blog/article about new updates, but the latest release of 15, which I just received, included a stack of new security features which are awesome and really are game changing!
Wireless MAC
Google, have added a new feature that by default uses a Randomised MAC address when connecting to wireless rather than the actual mac of the device. There are a stack of benefits here with randomising MACs, firstly if we talk from a privacy front, we have anonymity, by using a randomised MAC address, your devices unique identifier changes each time you connect to a Wi-Fi network, this in turn makes it more difficult for third-party entities to track your devices movements and browsing habits.
And of course Reduced Tracking, when using randomised MACs, network operators and other entities cant easily create a detailed profile of your devices activity, limiting the potential for targeted advertising or surveillance.
Then of course we have security benefits, randomised MACs Reduces the ability for attackers to attack your device, because a randomized MAC address makes it harder for attackers to target specific devices with malicious attacks. Randomised MACs also mitigate Spoofing Attempts, while MAC address spoofing is still possible, using a randomized MAC address can make it more difficult for attackers to successfully spoof your devices' identity.
And lastly we have performance benefits associated with faster network connectivity. In certain scenarios, a randomized MAC address can speed up the connection process, particularly when connecting to new networks.
Use Randomised MAC is now enabled by default on all wireless networks. To access this, go into your wireless settings, and then select Privacy.
Theft Protection
The next big new feature is Theft Protection, this basically detects if your phone has been stolen out of your hand while using it or off say a table while (any scenario where your phone is unlocked really) and someone has run off with it. The onboard Gyro detects this and automatically locks it. You can enable this under Theft Detection Lock. They have also added the ability to automatically lock your device after it goes offline which is a cool feature.
In the same section we also have an enhanced Remote Lock functionality, now you only need access to your phone number (and associated google account) to remotely lock your phone, note if you are someone that often loses their phone and wants to lock it frequently, this feature only allows you to lock it twice per day.
The way it works is you enable the setting, it pulls the phone number from your google account, then you go to android.com/lock, whack in your number and its done.
Remote lock enabled
Private Space
We've had the ability to use Private photo collections for a while, but the new release has created this new 'Private Space'. Private space acts like a digital safe on the phone. You can create a separate private space to organise sensitive apps, like your social, dating, medical or banking apps that are then not visible by default on the phone, I'm sure cheating spouses would be loving this feature... When private space is locked, apps remain virtually invisible to others and are hidden from your apps list, recent apps view, notifications and settings.
Where this is awesome is for separating of work apps and personal apps to further protect your organisational data as they run effectively in completely separate areas of the device. You will notice this further, when you say install an app (lets say Outlook) into the private space, even though I have it installed already, it will install it a second time into the private space (see screenshot below from my device as an example), IMO this new feature is a game changer.
They have also enabled biometrics to auth to the private space, and once setup you can actually choose to hide the existence of private space from view on your phone.
If you search for private it will come up like so:
One important call out, if you move an app into private space you wont receive notifications from the app, so if you are someone that checks your social media every time a notification pops up, this will no longer happen once moved into the space.
You need to associate a google account with the space:
Then you will be prompted to choose the user:
Now this bit is interesting, you can choose to use existing authentication, i.e your current pin or biometrics etc, or you can setup something completely different so no-one can access it:
You will be prompted through setting up a new pin etc.
Now if you search for private space, you can see and add apps to your space:
You will now see under apps and storage and various other settings, separated data and app lists for both personal and your private store:
Privacy Settings Changes
There is also a newly revamped privacy space, in the past you had to access numerous areas to access certain settings, now its all consolidated into the privacy and security section, with all privacy settings now group together to make it easier to control your privacy.
Mobile Network Security
I personally didnt have this show up on my device in my region, but depending on your device and location, you can now select to only connect to mobile networks that support end to end encryption.
This protects your device against rogue or 'stingray' cellular networks which may be setup by attackers (similar to a rogue wireless networks) where you connect to their malicious cellular network and they can then intercept your traffic.
These images below come from the 9to5 youtube video referenced at the bottom of this article.
Bluetooth
In this latest release, if you turn off or disable Bluetooth, it no longer stays deactivated (the same as apple devices) and will automatically turn itself back on in 24 hrs. You can however turn this off, by turning off the Automatically Turn on slider.
USB Controls
Now by default, plugging in a USB cable to your device will now no longer allow you to directly access the files on the device, even if you unlock your device. (If you unlocked in the past it allowed access) This may end up being a bit annoying if you regularly access files on your device, but this completely removes the risk from say a dodgy airport charging terminal which is malicious, now there is no chance an attacker can access your device's data, so from that perspective, this completely mitigates rogue charging point attacks, which is AWESOME!
So if prompted, upgrade now and take advantage of these new security and privacy features. There are also a massive amount of other new changes, prescribed in the links below.
A summary of the features can be found here:
And a good walkthrough here:
Comments