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

Identifying assets, threats, and attacks


There is nothing like absolute security. When we talk about data security, we need to identify what is it that we are protecting and from whom. The following three questions can help us map our approach:

  1. What are we trying to protect? From an Android application perspective, are we trying to protect the username and password of the user, or the coupon code and credit card number that a user might enter to make a purchase through your application, or rights protected song or picture that the user purchased using your app? By answering this question we can nail down our assets.

  2. Who are we trying to protect the asset from? In other words, what is our threat? Are we trying to protect user data from other applications on the system, or are we trying to protect this information from other apps that you have developed? Do we want to protect our asset even if the device is stolen?

  3. What is the attack? Answering this question helps identify vulnerabilities in...