Device-Level Encryption Comes to Android

As attacks on mobile devices such as iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets have surged in recent months, security researchers and customers have continued to look for ways to lock down their devices and protect the data they store on them. Whisper Systems has jumped into the fray with WhisperCore, a new device-level encryption application for Android.

WhisperCoreAs attacks on mobile devices such as iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets have surged in recent months, security researchers and customers have continued to look for ways to lock down their devices and protect the data they store on them. Whisper Systems has jumped into the fray with WhisperCore, a new device-level encryption application for Android.

WhisperCore is designed to enable users to encrypt the sensitive information that they store on their Android phones. The application, which is only available for the Nexus S phone right now, is in beta at the moment, but the company has plans to release versions for other Android devices in the near future.

“WhisperCore integrates with the underlying Android OS to protect everything you
keep on your phone. This initial beta tech-demo features full disk encryption
and basic platform management tools for Nexus S phones. WhisperCore presents a
simple and unobtrusive interface to users, while providing powerful security
and management APIs for developers,” the company said on its site.

The new application also enables users to extend the encryption to the removable SD storage card in the phone.

Whisper Systems is a small start-up that has been working on a number of Android security applications, including RedPhone and TextSecure. RedPhone provides encryption for calls from Android phones and TextSecure can send encrypted text messages and stores the messages in an encrypted database. The company, started by security researcher Moxie Marlinspike, also recently released a new version of RedPhone that supports international calling.

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