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 (12 chapters)
11
Index

Chapter 1. The Android Security Model – the Big Picture

Welcome to the first chapter of Android Application Security Essentials!

The Android stack is different in many ways. It is open; more advanced than some of the other platforms, and imbibes the learning from attempts to develop a mobile platform in the past. In this first chapter, we introduce the basics of the Android security model from the kernel all the way to the application level. Each security artifact introduced in this chapter is discussed in greater detail in the following chapters.

We kick off the chapter with explaining why install time application permission evaluation is integral to the security of the Android platform and user data. Android has a layered architecture and a security evaluation of each architectural layer is discussed in this chapter. We end the chapter with a discussion of core security artifacts such as application signing, secure data storage on the device, crypto APIs, and administration of an Android device.