Encryption oF SD card do I have a issue?

[kram6319]

I have a Samsung a16 a unlocked version using on T-moblle's network.
I have a SD card that I just bought I formatted it first then I encrypted it I received the message that my SD card was encrypted correctly. Then after that,  I put my data on the SD card .
My question is >>>>when I have my phone in my hand and I connect it to my laptop if it's not in sleep mode it will allow me to download all of my data from the encrypted card and I can read it. on my laptop Is that normal??I though it should have been encrypted?
It would concern me  if somebody stole my phone if they would be able to unlock my phone they would be able to have access to all of my data on my SD card?
I want to make sure that I am correct that if my phone is stolen and I have fingerprint and pin number on there for security ( which I do )that nobody can get in my phone or  attempt to connect it to a computer & if they try>>> they won't be able to see anything on my SD card it won't show up am I correct on that?
Also if they were to remove the SD card from my Samsung device and put it in another phone it would not show up at all correct?? I haven't taken it out to test it but the A16 is telling me that the SD card is encrypted.
I'm trying to be careful so that if my phone is ever stolen no one will  have access to anything on my SD card.
I'm aware that they would need to unlock my phone in order to get any information off of the phone itself the SD card though might be a different story ?
that's why I'm checking if anybody knows this for sure I would appreciate it. I called Samsung but they don't know the answer they have to go to their resources put me on hold and read a manual.
I did put a different SD card in there earlier today and did the same thing I formatted it & and encrypted it and then I put it in a different phone and it won't even show up on that  phone which tells me that I do believe the encryption process on the Samsung a16 makes the SIM card unusable .
if you take the SD card out and try to put it in another device  Having it unreadable or not recognized is  what I would expect.
What I don't understand is how I can have my phone on ( not in sleep mode) then plug it into the computer and then  once I transfer the SD card information from the SD card to my computer that I am able to then read all of the data I found that odd.
Also, there's no way to decrypt my SD card  on this device you can encrypt it, but once it's encrypted it will only work on the device that you encrypted it on which is okay I just want to make sure nobody will have access to my data Anybody can confirm this information for me or give me any information I would greatly appreciate it
Thank You

[arianwen27]

Sd card encryption protects your data if the card is removed from the phone. Only your phone can decrypt the data.

Other devices can see there are files on it, they can even copy and paste them. But trying to open them will produce errors. So copies of the card could be made, but they'd be useless.

While the card is in the phone that encrypted it, it will act as if there is no encryption. Since the phone knows the key, it can freely access it.

If someone steals your phone, they'd need to unlock your phone to access the card. Without unlocking the phone, there's no other way they could access the sd card data.

There should be a decrypt option somewhere. It might dissappear if you put apps on the card. If needed, you can always format the card to use it in other devices.

But in terms of addressing your worry that someone could access sd card data. They can't, they'd need to unlock your phone, though you're the only person who can do that.

[Reylob]

Hi @kram6319 

Reading data on your laptop after you transfer it from your phone is as intended. If you phone connected to your laptop; the phone will offer the data unencrypted because it has the key to decrypt it. When you copy the data to your laptop, you are copying the unencrypted data, hence it will be readable by anyone who has access to the laptop. However, if you put the card on card-reader and connect it to the laptop or a phone, the laptop/phone won’t be able to read it, unless the laptop/phone also has the key to decrypt the data.

If someone were to get hold of your unlocked phone, they will have access to the data on card. Encryption will not protect the data when the phone is being used, the data must be unencrypted to be used. If you connect to a public Wi-Fi and someone hack into your phone, they could technically read and copy your unencrypted data.

Samsung phones are encrypted when you do the initial setup, so data should be inaccessible to other devices. Someone could break the encryption, but as long as there is no backdoor, the time they will need to break it; it is long enough no to be very concern with this.

Please note that if you are backing up data to a cloud service, the data might be transferred/stored unencrypted. If you want to keep it protected on your laptop, then create an encrypted folder/volume and copy the data from the encrypted SD card to the encrypted folder/volume.

[kram6319]

Or they could take the SD card out and put it in a computer ? I did just that & I can see my stuff BUT I couldn't transfer from my phone to my laptop BUT I  could read the info. I dont know why. So if someone took my phone, removed the SD card & did like I did, put the SD card in a laptop,  it looks like they could see my data & that should not be   right?

[kram6319]

Forget my response I see the next comment.. Seems you cannot remove comments or i would have removed mine..

[kram6319]

I have looked for a "folder encryptor" And cannot seem to find a good solution. Any recommendations??

[Reylob]

You could use Windows 11 to encrypt a folder. See link below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/learning-center/how-to-encrypt-file

There is also a application called veracrypt that can encrypt disks, usb drives and create volumes which behave like a disk.

https://veracrypt.io/en/Downloads.html

Please note, that if you forget your password/keys used for encryption the data is gone for good.