Survey: Data Protection in Smartphones Against Physical Threats

In this paper we present a survey of the data protection systems in the presence of physical threats, such as theft, loss, damage and malicious use. Recent studies suggests that the aforementioned threats are real and happen with very high rates, e.g., it has been reported that more than 50% of Maimi city had experience with theft and loss of their device in 2011. In this paper we also present adversarial model and users’ requirements to data protection systems which were based on the result from the interview and survey studies we conducted. Analysis of the existing systems in the light of the aforementioned adversarial model and users’ requirements revealed that existing system (a) do not consider users as a source of threats, (b) do not provide adequate protection against an adversary with physical access, and (c) do not meet users’ requirements on usability and privacy. Finally, we suggest areas of further research, which would help to address the problem of data protection against an adversary with physical access to the smartphone.