Safety and Security: How Samsung Ensures User Data and Smartphones are Protected

October 28, 2021:  In today’s digital-first world, data security and user privacy are essential. With countless millions of consumers relying on their smartphone devices to communicate, transact, and conduct business, everyone demands and deserves the peace of mind that their personal information is safe and their devices are capable of upholding this requirement. And as a leading producer of smartphone devices, Samsung continues ensuring consumer data is secure in line with the highest possible standards through advanced security features. More specifically, Samsung Knox is the security platform that ensures such efforts are successful 24/7, providing next-level personal data security and protection. 

 
A holistic security approach 
Samsung believes openness and collaboration are critical to offering the best mobile experiences that people can trust. Over the past decade, the brand has made significant progress in streamlining and speeding up its regular security updates, working closely with its OS and chipset partners, as well as over 200 carriers around the world, to ensure that billions of Galaxy devices receive timely security patches. 

Moreover, Samsung has collaborated with over 1,000 partners to establish security standards for all Android devices, including the first-of-its-kind regular security update program in 2015, and partnered with the broader security research community to ensure consumers have the most secure mobile experience possible. Today, Samsung remains as committed as ever to offering security updates as quickly as possible to always stay one step ahead and keep its users safe – which has led to the inception of Samsung Knox Vault – defense-grade security that users can trust. 

As the latest advanced security solution that unpins everything Samsung does to keep consumers safe, Samsung Knox Vault protects data across every single device layer through true end-to-end protection – including container, management framework, security enhancements (SE) for android, runtime protection and encryption, and TrustZone architecture. 

By embedding security across every single layer of its devices, from the chip all the way up to the apps, Samsung protects personal information in real-time and preemptively responds to increasingly advanced mobile threats. And with protection now elevated to a whole new level with Samsung Knox Vault, the most sensitive data will never fall into the wrong hands. This is all thanks to the defense-grade security system that safeguards personal information and data in real-time, backed by chip-up manufacturing, data isolation, data encryption, and run-time protection all built into Galaxy smartphones. 

There are also three additional main parts to Samsung’s security approach. One is Samsung Pass, the ‘identity management-as-a-service’ that enables secure access through biometric authentication. Another is S20 Security, a secure processor solution that protects user data from different types of hardware attack. And then there’s Blockchain, which is Keystore protected and allows users to create, store, manage, and backup private Blockchain Key with maximum security. These three elements support Samsung Knox Vault, helping to ensure industry-leading security for consumers. 

The process behind prevention 
So how does it work? Firstly, every element of consumer data is encrypted. The Samsung Knox Vault processor keeps important information safe, such as pin, password, fingerprint, and any sensitive data linked to services like Samsung Pay. Data is then transferred via Samsung Knox Vault protocol to a secure area on devices – Samsung Knox Vault storage. Any data saved here is completely isolated and separate from the main operating system, meaning nobody can gain access. 

What’s more, Samsung Know Vault embodies numerous features that detect if anyone has users’ phones due to any circumstances and attempts to access them by tampering with the device. One is the voltage and glitch detector, which detects abnormal current voltage or glitch. Another is the temperature detector, which senses unusual temperatures beyond -35°C and 100°C. Furthermore, the laser detector prevents laser attacks on the device’s active shield or internal circuit. 

As soon as threats are detected, the detection alarm is triggered and threats eliminated immediately, with software attacks also blocked so nobody can access data remotely. As a result, users never need to worry about passwords or biometric data – with the Galaxy S21 Series and the latest Galaxy Z Series being among the devices with this level of protection. For example, both series boast the Samsung Knox security platform with hardware-backed protection to keep business data secure. With Knox Vault being a whole new layer of enhanced protection that supports the Knox Security platform, a separate chipset of Knox Vault called Secure Memory is incorporated into devices to securely store important data. 

Other important end-user information 
In addition to Samsung’s extensive efforts to maintain the highest data security standards, other factors also contribute to the consumer safety agenda. A prominent example is Google Safe Browsing, which keeps over four billion devices safe daily on Chrome and other browsers – including those from Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone portfolio. This technology warns users of dangerous sites or downloads, notifies webmasters of compromises, helps diagnose problems, identifies dangerous links, and shows warnings in Gmail.