Book Image

Android Application Security Essentials

By : Pragati Rai
Book Image

Android Application Security Essentials

By: Pragati Rai

Overview of this book

In today's techno-savvy world, more and more parts of our lives are going digital, and all this information is accessible anytime and anywhere using mobile devices. It is of the utmost importance that you understand and implement security in your apps that will reduce the likelihood of hazards that will wreck your users' experience. "Android Application Security Essentials" takes a deep look into Android security from kernel to the application level, with practical hands-on examples, illustrations, and everyday use cases. This book will show you how to overcome the challenge of getting the security of your applications right. "Android Application Security Essentials" will show you how to secure your Android applications and data. It will equip you with tricks and tips that will come in handy as you develop your applications.We will start by learning the overall security architecture of the Android stack. Securing components with permissions, defining security in a manifest file, cryptographic algorithms and protocols on the Android stack, secure storage, security focused testing, and protecting enterprise data on your device is then also discussed in detail. You will also learn how to be security-aware when integrating newer technologies like NFC and mobile payments into your Android applications. At the end of this book, you will understand Android security at the system level all the way to the nitty-gritty details of application security for securing your Android applications.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Android Application Security Essentials
Credits
Foreword
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Proximity technologies


Proximity technologies work in a radius of inches or centimeters. These include technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Most of these technologies have been around for some time but the pervasiveness of mobile devices has given them an array of new use cases. These technologies are now being used for mobile payments, pairing of different devices, identification, and authentication.

Bluetooth is now a standard in most mobile phones. It is a wonderful technology to pair devices. With devices such as glasses and watches coming in the market, this might be the technology that brings them all together.

Both NFC and RFID work by producing an electromagnetic field that modulates at a certain frequency. Since these tags are world readable, when used as tags or identification mechanism, these tags pose privacy risk. The first NFC enabled Android phone, the Nexus S, came out in the year 2010. The Android SDK comes...