Introducing The Secure Element podcast - Episode #1 is LIVE!
Hey friends, I'm pleased to announce the launch of our brand new security podcast: "The Secure Element"! This podcast is dedicated to all things security, covering topics relevant to our community and beyond. Plus, I am joined by some incredible people across the ecosystem along the way. We're kicking things off with our first episode, featuring special guest Bhavesh Kumar, Senior Director of Product Management at Omnissa. In Episode 1, we dive into: UEM controls to manage security Ecosystem of malware protection New capabilities for Device Trust principles You can listen to the first episode below: We'd love to carry on the conversation after you have listened/watched the video, so please do share your thoughts on any of the topics discussed in the comments below and/or any suggestions you might have for future topics. Stay secure, Burr[Feature Focus] Managed Google Domains & Insider Opportunity
Hi everyone, Welcome to our new video series, Feature Focus! This is our new series where we will focus on a specific feature from Android with an enterprise lens. Our aim is to provide you with all the information you need to understand a feature and equip you with the tools you need to implement it. In this episode we’ll be focusing on identity and managed Google domains with Gene Trinks, a technical account manager within the Android Enterprise team. You can find the first episode below: Useful resources to implement this feature: Overview of - Managed Google domains How to - Upgrade your domain Sync your directory Verify your domain Set up SSO While this is a publicly available feature, we are also excited to announce that managed Google domains will also be our first Android Enterprise Insiders’ project. This creates a dedicated area to navigate implementing this feature, ask any questions and get ready for future possibilities that this feature enables, launching 11th September. To find out more about Insiders and to register your interest, click here now! Thanks, Jordan Updated Sept 2025: To better protect your Google domain from unauthorized access, we will soon begin requiring 2-Step Verification (2SV) for administrative Managed Google Accounts. Learn more here.The Secure Element podcast - Episode #2
Hey friends, Episode 2 of our new podcast; The Secure Element is now available to watch below. This month, I met with Theresa Lanowitz, Chief Cybersecurity Evangelist at LevelBlue and a globally respected leader in the Cybersecurity world. In Episode 2, we dive into: Cyber Resilience on Edge Devices Phishing Difficulties in compromising Devices M&A causes security slips Application defenses You can listen to the episode below: We'd love to hear if any of the topics mentioned here resonate with you. If you have anything you’d like to add or any challenges you currently face, please comments below. Stay secure, Burr —------------ Missed episode #1 with Bhavesh Kumar, Senior Director of Product Management at Omnissa? Catch-up here.The Secure Element podcast - Episode #3
Hey Friends, Episode 3 of The Secure Element is here! This month, I spoke with Brian Wood who runs the Android Certifications Programs to demystify what it takes to get a device approved for the federal government, a process that also benefits other security-focused industries like finance and healthcare. Join us as we dive into: The exact process for federal government device certification. The roles of NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and NIAP (National Information Assurance Partnership) in setting security standards. Debunking myths about Android encryption, including its standing against iOS. Listen to the episode here: Thanks for tuning in! We’d love to hear your thoughts or any further questions in the comments below and we’ll be sure to follow them up. New to the series? Listen to Episode 1 and Episode 2 to hear more insights from industry leaders. Stay secure, BurrEnhanced Factory Reset Protection in Android 15
Factory Reset Protection: A Shield for Everyone Smartphones and tablets have become integral to our work and personal lives, however, they can also be easily lost, and on occasion, stolen by opportunistic thieves. Many times these bad actors will simply wipe the device to remove any personal and business data, with the intent of selling or using the device themselves. That's where Factory Reset Protection (FRP) steps in as a crucial line of defense. FRP is an Android security feature designed to prevent the reuse of a lost or stolen Android device. It requires your Google account or lockscreen credentials after a factory reset, ensuring that only the rightful owner can access and use the device once it has been wiped. Enhanced Factory Reset Protection Building on its initial purpose, FRP has evolved significantly with the release of Android 15. In the past, tech-savvy thieves and users found ways to bypass FRP, but Android 15 closes those loopholes with powerful new protections. These enhancements were added to combat unauthorized access and make stolen devices much less appealing to thieves, whether they're targeting personal or company-owned devices. Prior to Android 15, the Setup Wizard was responsible for determining whether FRP should be activated, and for enforcing it, including determining whether you have authenticated with the correct credentials to get out of FRP mode and proceed with setup normally. But the Setup Wizard was designed to be a user-friendly tool to walk through setting up a device, not a security enforcement barrier. In Android 15, FRP enforcement has been moved deep into the system, where it’s much harder to overcome. Benefits You Can Count On These enhancements translate into real-world benefits for everyone: Individuals: Deters Theft: FRP makes stolen devices far less valuable, as thieves can't bypass the Google account login or lock screen credential check. This significantly reduces the incentive for theft. Peace of Mind: Knowing that your Android device has this robust security feature gives you peace of mind. You can rest assured that if your device falls into the wrong hands, it cannot be used for anything. Enterprise and Managed Devices: Enhanced Device Security: Factory Reset Protection makes it much harder to reuse or sell stolen devices, which discourages thieves from stealing them in the first place. Simplified Device Management: FRP integrates seamlessly with enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions, allowing IT administrators to enforce FRP policies and ensure devices are protected. With Android 15, FRP has evolved into a powerful deterrent against device theft by making stolen devices unusable.
[PRODUCT UPDATE] Zero-touch enhancement: Audit logs
Hey everyone, We're pleased to announce a significant enhancement to the zero-touch customer portal, designed to provide greater transparency over your data. Comprehensive audit logs, offering a detailed and accessible record of all actions affecting your customer data will soon be available in the customer portal. Key Improvements: Comprehensive Logging: Captures actions taken from all possible sources eg: zero-touch customer and reseller portal, customer and reseller API. Tracks all data related to a zero-touch customer, including: Users Devices Resellers Configurations Terms of Service CSV Files Zero-touch customer accounts Easy Access and Analysis: Access audit logs through a user-friendly interface within the portal. Download logs in CSV format for further analysis and reporting. Benefits: Accessibility and Analysis: Ensures easy access and analysis of logs. Enhanced Security: Provides a detailed record of all activities impacting customer data, enabling better monitoring. Streamlined Troubleshooting: Quickly identify and resolve data-related issues with detailed activity logs. Increased Transparency: Offers greater visibility into how your customer data is being accessed and managed. Important Note: The audit logs are only available via the zero-touch customer portal. There is no change to the zero-touch reseller portal, Reseller API, and Customer API. Migration Timeline: This feature will be enabled during the next few weeks. Only logs after March 2025 are available in the zero-touch customer portal. If you require older audit logs, please contact your reseller who can raise a support ticket. We hope you find this enhancement useful. To learn more, please refer to this Help Center guide. It would be fantastic to hear your feedback or any questions below. Thanks so much.Do you really need a long pass code on Android?
Do you really need a long complicated pass code on Android? Traditionally, IT admins applied similar pass code requirements to Android devices as with server and desktop operating systems. However, this approach can be excessive and unnecessarily restrictive. Unlike laptops or desktops, where unlocking grants access to all user apps and services, Android operates differently. As “Android is now the most common interface for global users to interact with digital services”*(1) with many organizations, from small businesses to large multinational corporations and government agencies, relying on Android devices to access sensitive company data, it’s important to understand the distinction. The key difference lies in how these operating systems handle app permissions. While server/desktop OS's typically consider all apps running within the context of the logged-in user account as fully authorized, Android operates with a more granular approach. Android apps are not inherently granted full authorization for all user actions.*(1) This inherent security measure within Android mitigates the risk of malicious code exploiting the vulnerabilities of server/desktop OS's. On server/desktop systems, attackers often only need to execute malicious code with the currently logged in user's privileges to gain significant control. Android's more restrictive environment makes this type of attack more challenging. Windows, macOS, and Chrome will typically use a username and password coupled with Single Sign-On (SSO) or Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) that is tied to a corporate account to log into the OS. Android simply uses a PIN, pass code, or pattern that is not tied to a user’s LDAP or domain account to unlock the device. This separates the device unlock on Android by not having that tied to a corporate identity. This difference keeps an Android pass code to unlock a device separate from the user's account to access corporate services and applications. In this way, the Android security model grants less power to users versus traditional OS's that do not require multi-consent models. The immediate benefit to users is that one app cannot act with full user privileges. The user cannot be tricked into letting it access data controlled by other apps due to the robust app sandboxing on Android. So, do you really need a long pass code on Android if the unlock pass code is not tied to your corporate account? Let's consider some more interesting facts to determine if a long pass code is needed to protect an Android device. NIST passcode guidelines: A shift in perspective What does the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have to say? The general password guidance from the latest version of SP 800-63b *(2) are listed below: Pass code Length: Minimum 8 digits Complexity (Special characters, uppercase, lowercase, number): No longer required Pass code hints: Do not allow Simple or known pass codes: Do not allow Periodic pass code changes (every 90 days, etc.): Not required. Only force changes when a known compromise is detected. SMS for MFA Codes: Do not use Pass code guess prevention (Throttling): Implement NIST’s updated requirements are a result of technology advances that prevent guessing a pass code. As an example, 8 digits without special characters, upper and lower case, and pass code changing requirements are no longer recommended. An 8-digit pass code of non-repeating numbers is now sufficient to provide very strong protection. On Android we actually changed our PASSWORD_COMPLEXITY_HIGH to 6 digits back in Android 12. Let's explore this a little more. Rate limiting and password guessing Android implements a very strong default rate-limiting capability, which imposes increasing delays after the 5th failed login attempt, culminating in a 24-hour lockout after 100 attempts. The benefit to a managed device is that Android Enterprise can limit the attempts to a specific number before a device wipe is triggered automatically. This helps prevent access to personal and company data. Assuming that an Android device is properly managed with a limited number of failed pass code attempts, let's say 10 tries, enforcing a device wipe by policy renders an attack mostly infeasible. Even the latest version of the password-guessing USB tool, rubber ducky, is ineffective. Now, let's explore a simplified explanation of what a hash is in this context. Imagine your pass code to unlock your Android device is "019283". Android has an "algorithm machine" (called a hash function, or algorithm such as SHA256) that takes that password and generates a unique string of characters that represents that specific data, such as "a5f4g6h7j8k9l0". This is the hash of your password. It looks nothing like your original password, making it virtually impossible to figure out your lock screen pass code "019283" just by looking at the hash. Additionally, reversing the hashing calculations is infeasible and the algorithms are created in such a way as to protect against a reversing calculation. Now, every time you try to unlock your device, Android securely feeds what you type into the unlock prompt and puts it through the same hashing algorithm. If the resulting hash matches what is stored in secure hardware on the device, then Android knows you've entered the correct password and it unlocks. What is stored in secure hardware on Android is the hash of your pass code, not your pass code itself. We have all seen the following image on social media, but it portrays incorrect data when it comes to Android. This table does not take into consideration that the attacker has successfully been able to capture the hash of the pass code. Extracting the hash of a pass code from a locked Android device's secure hardware is non-trivial and is extremely difficult, actually infeasible on Android. Conclusion: Rethinking pass code complexity for Android In conclusion, it is important to note that I have only covered a small portion of a very complicated topic that involves encryption, key storage, hashing, and rate-limiting in Android kernel and services. While anything is potentially possible, the reality of exfiltrating a hash from secure hardware is really not feasible or practical. Requiring a pass code that is long and complicated is not a factor in 2025 on Android. With the proper management policies, guessing a pass code to unlock a stolen or lost device should not be a concern any longer. Have a look at what your EMM provider options are when setting a pass code requirement and consider how you can make the user experience for your users better by not having to enforce long complex pass codes, it just frustrates users. *(1) Android Security Model: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1904.05572 *(2) https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/specialpublications/nist.sp.800-63b.pdfRead this year's 2024 Android Security Paper
Hey Friends, this year's new 2024 Android Security paper is now available, take a look! In today’s modern world, we use mobile devices everywhere – at home, on the go, and at the office. So, protecting them against cyber threats has never been more important. Mobile devices are attractive targets for bad actors to steal or compromise to gain access to personal and business data. 83% of all phishing sites specifically target mobile devices and render in mobile browsers differently than desktop browsers. With that in mind, I’m happy to announce the updated Android Security Paper. Here, we detail our latest security measures to help protect your fleet of devices. By combining Zero Trust principles, enhanced privacy features, and advanced security capabilities, Android continues to set the standard for a secure, privacy preserving, and user-friendly mobile platform across use cases. What's new in Android 15 Android 15 brings more robust anti-theft protection capabilities, Private space to help protect users personal apps, and more dynamic audit logging. Additionally, we have introduced a simplified eSIM management feature, artificial intelligence management capabilities for IT admins, and a host of privacy preserving features. Plus, you’ll discover improvements to make customer sign-up and account governance easier and more secure. Finally, we have hardened the OS by enhancing memory safety to help minimize vulnerabilities. Enjoy! 2024 Android Security Paper
