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

Understanding the Android ecosystem


Android is a challenging ecosystem with numerous customized releases. The following figure shows the usage of an Android version at the time of writing this book. As you will notice, at any given time there are different versions of an Android stack in use. Understanding the nuances and special needs of each version is a full time job in itself. You can always check the latest usage statistics available at http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html.

To add to the preceding problem, each manufacturer has a customized version of the Android stack with their chosen features and capabilities. On top of this stack, carriers add their customizations as well. This has created a highly fragmented market.