Chapter 2. Security in Android Applications

You understand the security concepts in software and now you want to discover how those threats and vulnerabilities are applied to a mobile environment. You want to be aware of the special security features in the Android operating system. You are already familiar with Android, but you need to know the components that are critical for its security.

This chapter will show you the challenges that exist in the mobile environment. You will learn about the Android security architecture and about what application sandboxing means. This chapter will show you the main features in Android that will allow you protect your location: permissions and interprocess communication.

We will be covering the following topics in this chapter:

• Vulnerabilities in the mobile environment
• Android security overview
• Permissions
• Interapplication communication