Richard Taylor

More details of the UK's controversial NHSX contact tracing app are being released as the app starts a wider scale trial on the Isle of Wight this week. NHSX is a digital transformation group associated with the UK National Health Service. Why controversial? There are many reasons, some to do with how the app development was initially procured, but also specifically from a technical perspective as the UK has opted for a centralised contact tracing approach rather than the decentralised model being championed by Apple and Google amongst others (including ourselves). Read Full Story

Photo by Digital Buggu from Pexels Google announced Android App Bundles a couple of years ago at I/O 2018. App Bundles are a new app publishing format providing new features that have rapidly driven their adoption. In particular App Bundle delivery enables automatic splitting of various assets within the overall app package, so they are only delivered to a device if they are actually needed. Read Full Story

Photo by Ferenc Almasi on Unsplash React Native is a very popular framework for building cross platform apps. Apps are developed in Javascript, but with full support for inclusion of native iOS or Android libraries where that is necessary. You shouldn’t need to compromise on security though just because you are using a higher level framework rather than developing native apps. Our React Native Quickstart allows you to easily get up and running with Approov, whether you are building a new app or adapting an existing one to have an improved security posture. Read Full Story

Photo by Ankush Rathi from Pexels Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2020 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness. The latest update was in September 2020. Approov lets your mobile app prove to a backend API that it really is the official mobile app making the call, and that it is not running in an environment that may be compromised. Only requests from the apps that you specifically allow can make successful requests. Read Full Story

Photo by Pathum Danthanarayana on Unsplash Our aim is to make the process of integrating Approov into your mobile app as simple as possible. Our Quickstart guides show you how to Approov into your app, tailored to whatever framework or programming style you’ve already adopted. In this blog we are going to cover the comprehensive options we have for Android Native app development. Read Full Story

Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay The Android app store contains numerous Cloner Apps. These are an increasingly popular category that allow you to have multiple accounts associated with an app, such as a social media or messaging app. Our analysis shows that such apps introduce some really concerning potential security isolation risks that you should be aware of so that you can decide if you want to enable features to block the use of such cloner apps with your own app. Read Full Story

Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash Last Friday, there was an unusual joint announcement from Apple and Google providing details of a new phone API for Covid-19 contact tracing via Bluetooth. The protocol allows mobile phones to continually transmit Bluetooth advertisements to one another. This includes a proximity identifier derived from randomly generated keys that can be held secretly on each device. If a phone user is later diagnosed with Covid-19, they are able to upload the daily tracing keys for those days when they might have been infectious. Read Full Story

With smartphone usage now a global phenomenon, mobile apps and connectivity are common denominators binding people the world over. And as the world’s nations grapple with the common dilemma of how to manage the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus or COVID-19, it’s little wonder that governments and health authorities across the planet are turning to mobile app technology as a weapon in their crisis management arsenal. Read Full Story

Photo by CDC on Unsplash In recent weeks we have been following the race to build contact tracing smartphone apps in the worldwide fight against COVID-19. Such apps are a powerful weapon in controlling the growth of infection by automating the scaling of the contact tracing process. By tracking interactions between people, the apps allow instant user notification if they have recently been in close proximity with anyone later diagnosed with COVID-19. This allows immediate social distancing or self isolation measures to be instituted for that potential infected user, slowing the spread of the virus. It would have been better if these apps were widely available during the initial phase of the pandemic, but they may still have a crucial role to play as we eventually emerge from full lockdown We have some specific suggestions about how this can be achieved while maintaining citizen anonymity. Read Full Story

In part1 of this blog I provided an overview of the Meltdown and Spectre and in this blog I look at the potential impact for mobile security. Read Full Story