[Knowledge] ARM TrustZone - Samsung Knox

[Baahubali]

Hey Samsung Members, how are you all? I've been a senior member on xda-developers.com for years and love to help people with their queries and share knowledge. With the latest edition of Samsung Members, I've decided to post occasional briefing articles here as well. 

Let's start with Samsung KNOX today:


                   Samsung Knox

I've found a lot of queries about security of Knox and thus, Secure folder, comparison with other brands like Apple and Google security features and hardware-based encryptions. I'll try to brief you about Samsung Knox and it won't take you more than 3 mins to read. 

Samsung KNOX runs on ARM's TrustZone while Apple relies on Secure Enclave. Both have an isolated co-processor that is built on the same SoC and have different area of memory.

Let's see how hardware based encryption works and protects you:

It has its own special area of memory and runs its own operating system. It’s completely isolated from everything else. In other words, even if your entire Android or iOS operating system was compromised by malware and that malware had access to everything, it wouldn’t be able to access the contents of the secure area.

Be it Secure Enclave from Apple, TrustZone from Samsung or even Titan M from Google, be assured that all of them works on advanced encryption algorithms like 256-bit AES. While the normal use cases of these hardwared backed chips are to store PINs, biometric information or payment data, we have an additional benefit of an isolated system with Samsung Knox's Secure Folder. TrustZone uses a secure area of the main processor to run critical software. Security keys can be stored here. Samsung’s KNOX security software runs in the ARM TrustZone area, so it’s isolated from the rest of the system. Samsung Pay also uses ARM TrustZone to handle payment card information securely. Knox has even garnered the approval of US Government, and is now allowing Samsung Galaxy phones to be used in government offices - a privilege long-held by Blackberry. This makes Samsung KNOX the most successful among all of the competitors.

Source: www.howtogeek.com/387934/your-smartphone-has-a-special-security-chip.-heres-how-it-works/

Hope I was able to explain. Follow me for further updates like this and give this post a like button if it made you learn something new. Feel free to ask any queries. Keep Learning! :)

[dj9494]

thanks for the info

[Baahubali]

Thanks for thanking! :)

[Anonymous]

nice info

[Baahubali]

Thank you for supporting! :)

[INDIANCYBER]

LG ALSO USING KNOX

[Baahubali]

You mean LG GATE? Yes, they have introduced their version of enterprise mobile solution. GATE is Guarded Access to Enterprise. It's not backed by KNOX as far as I know.

Among all the security solutions, KNOX is the most successful one.

[BunnyGirl]

Good info.
keep posting. 😀

[Baahubali]

Thanks for the comment, buddy. Empowers me! 💪🏻

Do drop a ❤️ if you liked it! :)