MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - The state of access protection (password/encryption) on e-reader devices

fx32 · 12-13-2016, 09:51 AM

Hey!

I'm trying to decide which brand of e-reader to buy for some of our employees.

The readers will mainly be used by engineers and managers, to read reference manuals and reports, often in areas with limited internet and power (which is why I'm interested in e-readers). The problem is that many of these documents contain detailed information about products and manufacturing techniques.

Currently, most manuals are stored on a server, as plain text files or PDFs produced from a plaintext latex/xetex source, and people just print to paper what they need for a job -- not very secure either. It's not the kind of information worthy of corporate espionage, but I'd still like to limit exposure as much as possible in case someone loses their reader.

Could technically inclined owners of e-readers tell me something about what their device supports in terms of access protection, either officially, or through community efforts?

Are there any readers with full storage encryption? (haha, of course not)
Failing that, are there any readers with user/password management, or a simple lock screen?
Are there any readers with support for specific types of single-file encryption, like AES265-encrypted PDFs?

I understand that I'm not going to find unbreakable protection for this application, but would nevertheless be interested in some options, even flawed ones. I've seen mixed reports about a simple lock screen plugin for Kobo readers (hacky?), and password protected PDF support on Kindle (only 40 bit? or also 128/265?). Can custom reader apps provide any extra features?

If all else fails, we'll just forego access protection alltogether, and try to keep the amount of documents stored per reader limited.

Thanks in advance!

12-13-2016, 09:51 AM	#1
fx32 Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2016 Device: None	The state of access protection (password/encryption) on e-reader devices Hey! I'm trying to decide which brand of e-reader to buy for some of our employees. The readers will mainly be used by engineers and managers, to read reference manuals and reports, often in areas with limited internet and power (which is why I'm interested in e-readers). The problem is that many of these documents contain detailed information about products and manufacturing techniques. Currently, most manuals are stored on a server, as plain text files or PDFs produced from a plaintext latex/xetex source, and people just print to paper what they need for a job -- not very secure either. It's not the kind of information worthy of corporate espionage, but I'd still like to limit exposure as much as possible in case someone loses their reader. Could technically inclined owners of e-readers tell me something about what their device supports in terms of access protection, either officially, or through community efforts? Are there any readers with full storage encryption? (haha, of course not) Failing that, are there any readers with user/password management, or a simple lock screen? Are there any readers with support for specific types of single-file encryption, like AES265-encrypted PDFs? I understand that I'm not going to find unbreakable protection for this application, but would nevertheless be interested in some options, even flawed ones. I've seen mixed reports about a simple lock screen plugin for Kobo readers (hacky?), and password protected PDF support on Kindle (only 40 bit? or also 128/265?). Can custom reader apps provide any extra features? If all else fails, we'll just forego access protection alltogether, and try to keep the amount of documents stored per reader limited. Thanks in advance!