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Amanda Connolly
ReporterAmanda Connolly is a reporter for The Next Web, currently based in London. Originally from Ireland, Amanda previously worked in press and ed Amanda Connolly is a reporter for The Next Web, currently based in London. Originally from Ireland, Amanda previously worked in press and editorial at the Web Summit. She’s interested in all things tech, with a particular fondness for lifestyle and creative tech and the spaces where these intersect. Twitter
While the US is in the middle of a very public encryption battle between Apple and the FBI, Amazon decided to quietly disable the security feature in the latest version of its Fire OS.
Removing the ability for users to encrypt their personal data basically goes against all cybersecurity principles.
Thankfully, Amazon has agreed to return the feature in an update this spring. The company hasn’t specified a date for its arrival so it could be any time between now and the end of May.
In the meantime, anyone who owns a Kindle Fire, Fire Phone, Amazon Fire HD, or Amazon Fire TV Stick and updates to Fire OS 5 will have their information left open to attacks as it will be stored in plain text.
If you own one the above devices and don’t want your data being vulnerable, wait until the new update that includes encryption is available.
➤ Amazon says it will bring device encryption back to Fire OS [Tech Crunch]
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