Users have discovered a bug in Samsung’s Secure Folder feature that occurs when you set the folder as a work profile.
If you want to keep certain images, videos or apps hidden on your Samsung device, you can use Secure Folder for this purpose. This creates a new profile with separate secure storage. However, users discovered that this feature is not completely secure.
What goes wrong?
A Reddit user shared a way to access photos and videos in Samsung’s Secure Folder. By default, Android blocks access to hidden files for a personal profile. If the files are viewed through a work profile, access is not blocked. Not all files can be viewed this way, only photos and videos. For additional security, there is the option to encrypt the folder, which is not by default.
It doesn’t stop there, Android Authority discovered a second flaw: it is also possible to see which apps are in the Secure Folder through Android’s permissions manager. Frequently requested permissions such as “location” display the Secure Folder apps. This happens even if the folder is encrypted, so for now there is no way to avoid this problem. The notification permissions are one of the few permissions that do not disclose information, and that is because those settings are not adjusted through Android’ s permissions management, but in Samsung’s settings.
Samsung has not commented on the discovered bugs at this time. They will likely be fixed in a future software update, but until then, users should be vigilant and encrypt their files and folders.
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