Google Adiantum: New Encryption Security

Google Adiantum is Google’s new encryption security product designed to keep more devices secure. What this means is that Google doesn’t view secure encryption solely for high-end devices. Specifically, Adiantum offers fast encryption for lower end devices that did not benefit from this type of encryption before.

Which devices will it work with?

Google’s Adiantum targets devices with low-end processors that don’t support the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Google created security system to run on Android Go devices, cheaper smartphones, smartwatches and other wearables, TVs, Internet-connected medical devices, and other IoT devices.  

Adiantum will allow devices to encrypt sensitive data.

Google posted a blog post about its new security encryption. In it, the company explains that on these low-end processor devices, “AES is so slow that it results in poor user experience.” Google explains that “apps…take much longer to launch, and the device[s]…generally feel much slower” as a result.

The Android 6.0 release in 2015 started the requirement for storage encryption for most devices. However, devices with poor AES performance (50 MiB/s and below) were exempt from this regulation.

Google has since been working to change the regulation because it believes that encryption and data security is for everyone, not just those with high-end smartphones and devices. Now, Google’s Adiantum should bring security to all Internet-device users.