Amazon Ends Encryption Support For Its Fire OS Devices

Apple is currently engaged in what can be described as one of the biggest debates regarding encryption, and many tech companies have since come forward to show Apple their support. In fact we have also heard reports that Apple is upping its own security to make it harder for them to hack their own devices should they ever be compelled to.

However oddly enough, Amazon seems to be headed in the opposite direction. A report from Motherboard has revealed that Amazon is actually putting an end to encryption support for its devices running their Fire OS platform, such basically means that the Fire Phone and the Kindle Fire tablets will no longer have their data encrypted following this update.

So what gives? Is Amazon siding with the FBI? Hardly. In a statement issued to Engadget, Amazon said, “In the fall when we released Fire OS 5, we removed some enterprise features that we found customers weren’t using. All Fire tablets’ communication with Amazon’s cloud meet our high standards for privacy and security including appropriate use of encryption.”

So what if you want to keep your data encrypted? As Amazon points out, you can use their cloud services. However if you prefer keeping your data local, an alternative would be to skip the latest update entirely, which might not necessarily be recommended as future updates will probably come with bug fixes, security improvements, and etc.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones, Tablets
Tags: Amazon, Security