Android Hacker's Handbook

Chapter 5Understanding Android's Attack Surface

Fully understanding a device's attack surface is the key to successfully attacking or defending it. This is as true for Android devices as it is for any other computer system. A security researcher whose goal is to craft an attack using an undisclosed vulnerability would begin by conducting an audit. The first step in the audit process is enumerating the attack surface. Similarly, defending a computer system requires understanding all of the possible ways that a system can be attacked.

In this chapter, you will go from nearly zero knowledge of attack concepts to being able to see exactly where many of Android's attack surfaces lie. First, this chapter clearly defines the attack vector and attack surface concepts. Next, it discusses the properties and ideologies used to classify each attack surface according to impact. The rest of the chapter divides various attack surfaces into categories and discusses the important details of each. You will learn about the many ways that Android devices can be attacked, in some cases evidenced by known attacks. Also, you will learn about various tools and techniques to help you explore Android's attack surface further on your own.

An Attack Terminology Primer

Before diving into the depths of Android's attack surface, we must first define and clarify the terminology we use in this chapter. On a computer network, it is possible for users to initiate actions that can subvert the security of computer ...