Week 4 Reflections

Personally, I consider encryption to be very important in securing my personal data. Even though strong encryption poses the threat of data loss if encryption keys and passwords are lost, I would rather lose my data than have unwanted parties accessing them.  With the growing rate of identity and personal information theft, I encrypt almost all my devices (mobile phones, laptops and tablets).

For example, I use a Samsung android phone that does not come encrypted by default but has the option for the phone to be encrypted.  Most people are not aware of this. I encrypt my mobile phone to protect my data from getting into the wrong hands, even though I risk data loss if I ever forget my password.

I am quite glad that strong encryption is in use today. This means that the government or anyone else for that matter does not have backdoor access to my encrypted devices.  Every individual should have the right to protect their data from unwanted access. The technical proficiency of hackers is quite high nowadays, with hackers breaking into seemingly uncrackable systems. The government is the least of my worries (not that the government should by snooping) as their intentions are not malicious. I can’t say the same for hackers