Samsung announces major security enhancements coming to One UI 8
Samsung has announced multiple data security and privacy enhancements for its upcoming Galaxy smartphones running One UI 8, its custom user interface on top of Android.
Key highlights include the introduction of a system-level architecture named Knox Enhanced Encrypted Protection (KEEP), upgrades to Knox Matrix, and the addition of quantum resistance to WiFi connectivity.
Keeping AI data secure
With AI tools taking an increasing role in day-to-day smartphone use, protecting user inputs has become more crucial.
To address this, Samsung is introducing KEEP, a system built to support the company's Personal Data Engine (PDE) and other AI features like ‘Now Brief’ (personalized daily updates), ‘Smart Suggestions,’ ‘Moments’ (photo memories), and ‘Smart Gallery Search’ (natural language photo retrieval).
KEEP is different from the existing ‘Secure Folder’, which is just a separate secure storage space. It is an architecture that creates isolated environments for each app to store sensitive data in encrypted state and keep it protected from unauthorized access by other processes.
Knox Matrix expansion
Knox Matrix, Samsung’s multi-device platform designed to protect and manage security across all connected Galaxy devices, will also receive significant upgrades in One UI 8.
First, when the system detects manipulation or identity forgery, Knox Matrix will automatically sign out of the Samsung Account, cutting off the attacker’s channel to access cloud-connected services, data, and pivot to other devices.
If such an event occurs, the user receives an alert across all their connected Galaxy devices.
Another important addition to Knox Matrix concerns the delivery of warnings to users when they have yet to apply the latest security updates on their devices.
Quantum WiFi
The release of One UI 8 also brings upgrades to Samsung’s ‘Secure WiFi,’ which will use the NIST-certified ML‑KEM scheme to offer post-quantum cryptographic resistance.
This strengthens the key-exchange process and protects encrypted connections from future quantum-based threats such as “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks, which could expose sensitive user data in the future.
Secure WiFi also offers automatic strengthening when connecting to public hotspots, multi-point routing and packet encryption for anonymization, and security-related logging.
One UI 8 is expected to be released alongside Samsung’s upcoming launch of the widely anticipated Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 devices, but the update is also expected to reach older Galaxy models soon.
Users who want to take advantage of the new protections should upgrade to the new release and review their data privacy and security settings accordingly.
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