Application Security for the Android Platform

Chapter 1. Introduction

Welcome, developer! This book is for you: software developers that write for the Android mobile platform. Here you will learn what you need to know about the world of application security, and the interaction between software development and information security. In today’s world, application security knowledge is one thing that can differentiate developers.

Like it or not, you will be releasing applications into a high-threat environment. Although the Android platform is still pretty new and offers lots of great opportunities, it is also routinely targeted by malicious hackers who want to compromise mobile applications—your mobile applications—for their own gain (note that this is not to say that Android is targeted any more than other systems, such as web browsers, document formats, and so on; any platform with a decent number of users is a target nowadays, and Android sure has that). This book will teach you the basics of how to design and implement secure, robust, and rugged applications on the Android platform. It will also teach you how malicious hackers may view your application and how they may choose to attack it, information you can put to good use when designing and implementing your app.

As noted, this book is targeted to developers who are already developing for the Android mobile platform, or plan to. It assumes you have a decent knowledge of the Android environment, including how to design, build, and deploy applications. It does not, however, ...