Samsung is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Knox security platform. Indeed, Samsung announced Knox a little over a decade ago at Mobile World Congress 2013. And as the company put it in a recent celebratory announcement, the platform has since evolved into a holistic security solution that protects billions of consumers and businesses.
Knox is available on every Galaxy phone and tablet, so it's no wonder it has such a wide reach. But its success is undisputed, and it even helps Samsung sell “Tactical Edition” Galaxy phones to the US military.
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Knox, Samsung talked about what's next for the security platform, and the news is mixed. Although there's a lot to look forward to, the company also appears to have suffered a small setback.
Knox Matrix is the future, but it's not going to materialize this year
Last year, Samsung unveiled what sounded like a huge step forward in the evolution of its security platform, called Knox Matrix. With Matrix, Samsung intends to create seamless networks of devices that secure one another.
Rather than Knox working independently on each device, Knox Matrix will connect multiple Samsung devices in a household on a private blockchain-based network. Samsung's vision is for each Knox Matrix device to be capable of making security checks on another device, thus creating a network that can verify its own security integrity. And the more devices are on a Knox Matrix network, the more secure the system is.
The Knox Matrix system relies on three core technologies:
- Trust Chain, which has devices monitoring each other for security threats
- Credential Sync, which secures user data when moved between devices
- Cross PLatform SDK, which allows devices on different operating systems and platforms, including Android, Tizen, and Windows, to participate in the Knox Matrix network
Galaxy S24 might be the first to feature Knox Matrix
Samsung Knox Matrix is not yet available, and the company has redrawn its release plans. Although the tech giant initially said Matrix would go live in 2023, the company appears to have changed its plans a little bit. Samsung now says it will release the first Knox Matrix Galaxy devices in 2024, with more phones and tablets later gaining access to this blockchain security feature through firmware updates.
Whether the Galaxy S24 or the Galaxy Z Fold 6/Flip 6 will be the first to boast Knox Matrix security next year is unknown. In any case, Samsung says that after smartphones come TVs, home appliances, and other smart home devices. They should become Knox Matrix-compatible within the next 2-to-3 years. Then, the company intends to bring Knox Matrix to partner devices, and Samsung says development is already underway for partner device compatibility.
