- *BASICS*
- The Knox Ecosystem
- White Paper
- Samsung Knox Portal
- Knox Cloud Services
- General Knox Support
- Knox Licenses
- *FOR IT ADMINS*
- Knox Admin Portal
- Knox Suite
- Knox Platform for Enterprise
- Introduction
- How-to videos
- Before you begin
- Get started with UEMs
- Introduction
- Blackberry UEM
- Citrix Endpoint Management
- FAMOC
- IBM MaaS360
- Microsoft Intune
- MobileIron Cloud
- MobileIron Core
- Samsung Knox Manage
- SOTI MobiControl
- VMware Workspace ONE UEM
- Knox Service Plugin
- Release notes
- Migrate to Android 11
- FAQs
- Troubleshoot
- KBAs
- Knox Mobile Enrollment
- Introduction
- How-to videos
- Get started
- Features
- Register resellers
- Add an admin
- Create profiles
- Google device owner support
- MDM compatibility matrices
- Device users
- Activity log
- Enroll and unenroll devices
- Configure devices
- Provide KME feedback
- Use the Knox Deployment App (KDA)
- Recover Google FRP locked devices using KME
- Role-based access control (RBAC)
- Release notes
- FAQs
- Troubleshoot
- KBAs
- On-Premise
- Knox Configure
- Mobile
- Wearables
- Shared Device
- KBAs
- Knox Capture
- Introduction
- How it works
- How-to videos
- IT admins: Get started
- Getting started with Knox Capture
- Step 1: Launch Knox Capture
- Step 2: Create a scanning profile
- Step 3: Select apps and activities
- Step 4: Configure the scanner
- Step 5: Set keystroke output rules
- Step 6: Test apps in your configuration
- Step 7: Share your configuration
- Step 8: Deploy Knox Capture in Managed mode
- End users: Get started
- Features
- Release notes
- FAQs
- Troubleshoot
- Knox Asset Intelligence
- Knox Manage
- Introduction
- How-to videos
- Get started
- Video: Getting started with Knox Manage
- Integration with Managed Service Provider
- Access Knox Manage
- Configure basic environments
- Create user accounts
- Create groups
- Create organization
- Set up devices and profiles
- Set up Knox Manage deployment with a Knox Suite license
- Manage Chromebooks
- Manage Android devices with the Android Management API
- Manage Shared iPads
- Configure
- Licenses
- Organization
- Users
- Sync user information
- Groups
- Devices
- Content
- Applications
- View applications
- Add applications
- Introduction
- Add internal Android and iOS applications
- Add internal Windows applications
- Add public applications using Google Play Store
- Add public applications using iOS App Store
- Add public applications using Managed Google Play Private
- Add public applications using Managed Google Play Store Private Web
- Add public applications using Microsoft Store
- Add Chrome OS applications
- Assign applications
- Introduction
- Assign internal Android and iOS apps
- Assign iOS App Store applications
- Assign Google Play applications
- Assign Managed Google Play applications
- Assign Managed Google Play Private applications
- Assigned Managed Google Play public web apps
- Assign Windows applications
- Assign Chrome OS applications
- Manage applications
- Volume Purchase Program for iOS
- Profile
- Knox E-FOTA
- Certificates
- Advanced settings
- Monitor
- Kiosk devices
- Knox Remote Support
- Active Directory
- Microsoft Exchange
- Mobile Admin
- Appendix
- Release notes
- Features
- FAQs
- KBAs
- Knox E-FOTA
- Introduction
- How-to videos
- Get started
- Features
- EMM integration
- Appendix
- Release notes
- FAQs
- KBAs
- Troubleshoot
- Knox E-FOTA On-Premises
- Legacy Knox E-FOTA products
- Knox Guard
- Introduction
- How-to video
- Get started
- Using Knox Guard
- Dashboard
- Manage devices
- Introduction
- Accept or reject devices
- Upload devices
- Delete devices
- Complete payment
- Send payment overdue notification
- Enable or disable SIM control
- Download devices as CSV
- View device log
- View device deletion log
- Start and stop blinking reminder
- Lock and unlock devices
- Update lock message
- Send relock timestamp
- Turn on/off relock reminder
- Manage policies
- Manage licenses
- Manage resellers
- Manage admins and roles
- Activity log
- Knox Deployment App
- Release notes
- FAQs
- KBAs
- Support
- Samsung Care+ for Business
- *FOR RESELLERS*
- Knox Deployment Program
- *FOR MANAGED SERVICE PROVIDERS*
- Knox MSP Program

Knox White Paper
Client Certificate Manager (CCM)
Samsung builds upon the Android Keystore by providing a tamper-proof, detection-based lock-down of cryptographic keys and certificates. This solution supports a variety of high-security use cases important to enterprises, as described in the following sections.
Granular certificate and key access control
The Knox Platform supports an app allowlist for certificates, allowing the certificate installer to define which apps are allowed to perform cryptographic operations based on their certificates. This certificate allowlist process offers better control and flexibility than simply allowing app-only or device-wide access rights to certificates.
Silent installation
Knox 3.2.1 allows IT admins to install certificates while the device is still locked. This means certificates can be silently installed into a keystore without any interaction from the device-user.
Signing with device-specific certificates
A special certificate called the Device Default Certificate (DDC) resides within each device. What makes this certificate special is that it is tied to that device's hardware, is signed by the Device Root Key (DRK), and can never leave the device.
Any objects signed by the same DDC are guaranteed to have come from the same Samsung device. There is no way to spoof the identity of a device by reusing a DDC and its key pair on a different device.
Device integrity assurance
Objects signed with this certificate were signed while the device was in good health, meaning when the device was uncompromised. If a device fails its integrity checks—by failing the signature check of the kernel or OS or disabling SE for Android—the following happens:
- A tamper fuse is set; and
- The DDC is rendered permanently unusable.
This lockdown helps attest to the health of the device where the data was signed. After all, you can’t trust a signature if the device doing the signing is compromised. The Knox Platform provides a CSR agent that benefits from this device health attestation claim. A CSR produced and signed by the CSR agent carries implicit device health security claims.
Keystore integration with other features
A keystore is only as useful as the use cases it supports. In addition to manual cryptographic actions—such as sign, verify, encrypt, and decrypt—the Knox Platform provides built-in logic to support sensitive certificate-based actions enterprises often need to secure their solutions such as the following:
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Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) — The ability to complete CSRs with a trusted agent, tied to the Knox Platform's hardware-based Root of Trust, simplifies the secure handling of mobile endpoint requests for digital identity certificates. Instead of sending key pairs and certificates from servers, keys can instead be securely generated on-device and bound to hardware. The public certificate is then included in an appropriate CSR request. Using the CSR agent to validate CSR contents and sign the request avoids trusting sensitive actions to third-party code running in less trusted areas of the device.
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Certificate Enrollment Protocols (CEPs) — Similar to CSR, CEP provides built-in agents for logic that enterprises rely on, saving time and enhancing security claims. For more information, see Certificate Enrollment Protocols.
In addition to the DDC, you can generate or install your own certificate and key pairs and specify they are accessible only if the device is in good health. This additional process locks down the keystore in the event of a device integrity failure.