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I treat pins/pattern as a way to keep casual pranksters and nosey people out of my phone, not as a real "security measure" in the typical sense. If I wanted ac

I treat pins/pattern as a way to keep casual pranksters and nosey people out of my phone, not as a real "security measure" in the typical sense. If I wanted actual security I would be using a full blown password and full drive encryption (both supported by Android). But then I'd have to turn off all my toys like sync, USB debugging, and unsigned package installation. Which I don't want to do. So therefore I just take my phone being relative insecure as a given, and try to keep out the casual pranksters and or nosey people.

smackfu 13y ago
It's pretty scary how much damage people can do just by getting access to your email account on your phone though.
- steelaz 13y ago
  It seems after loosing your phone you have a few hours to disable access to your email account.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
JoshTriplett 13y ago
Sync doesn't introduce a security issue. Neither does unsigned package installation, as long as you don't install a package that introduces a security hole. USB debugging is obviously a huge security issue, but you can have USB connections not work with the phone locked, such that you have to enter the password and unlock the phone before you can attach. The real security problem: remote package installation, which Android allows without prompting for anyone signed into your Google account. So, that reduces the security of your full-disk-encrypted phone to that of your Google account, if you tie your phone to a Google account. You can avoid that by not using a Google account, but that means no Play store.
- kin3tic 13y ago
  Do you have a lot of people accessing your Google Account? (I know they had a slight hole in it, but) I feel pretty safe with two-factor auth on my Google Account.
zurn 13y ago
Smoke detectors are not a real personnel "safety measure", If I wanted real fire safety I'd make everyone wear fire proof exoskeletons equipped with fire extinguishers... PINs are some of the best security devices we have when implemented right, they work great in eg. EMV payment cards. Passwords/phrases just aren't practical without keyboards when the use case require frequent and low barrier unlocking.

smackfu 13y ago

It's pretty scary how much damage people can do just by getting access to your email account on your phone though.

steelaz 13y ago
It seems after loosing your phone you have a few hours to disable access to your email account.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

JoshTriplett 13y ago

Sync doesn't introduce a security issue. Neither does unsigned package installation, as long as you don't install a package that introduces a security hole. USB debugging is obviously a huge security issue, but you can have USB connections not work with the phone locked, such that you have to enter the password and unlock the phone before you can attach. The real security problem: remote package installation, which Android allows without prompting for anyone signed into your Google account. So, that reduces the security of your full-disk-encrypted phone to that of your Google account, if you tie your phone to a Google account. You can avoid that by not using a Google account, but that means no Play store.

kin3tic 13y ago
Do you have a lot of people accessing your Google Account? (I know they had a slight hole in it, but) I feel pretty safe with two-factor auth on my Google Account.

zurn 13y ago

Smoke detectors are not a real personnel "safety measure", If I wanted real fire safety I'd make everyone wear fire proof exoskeletons equipped with fire extinguishers... PINs are some of the best security devices we have when implemented right, they work great in eg. EMV payment cards. Passwords/phrases just aren't practical without keyboards when the use case require frequent and low barrier unlocking.