Android Security Internals

Book excerpt: There are more than one billion Android devices in use today, each one a potential target. Unfortunately, many fundamental Android security features have been little more than a black box to all but the most elite security professionals—until now. In Android Security Internals, top Android security expert Nikolay Elenkov takes us under the hood of the Android security sys­tem. Elenkov describes Android security archi­tecture from the bottom up, delving into the imple­mentation of major security-related components and subsystems, like Binder IPC, permissions, cryptographic providers, and device administration. You’ll learn: –How Android permissions are declared, used, and enforced –How Android manages application packages and employs code signing to verify their authenticity –How Android implements the Java Cryptography Architecture (JCA) and Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) frameworks –About Android’s credential storage system and APIs, which let applications store cryptographic keys securely –About the online account management framework and how Google accounts integrate with Android –About the implementation of verified boot, disk encryption, lockscreen, and other device security features –How Android’s bootloader and recovery OS are used to perform full system updates, and how to obtain root access With its unprecedented level of depth and detail, Android Security Internals is a must-have for any security-minded Android developer.