Researchers have found a very simple method for evading the Android licensing scheme that Google uses to ensure that paid applications in its Android Market are correctly licensed.. The crack takes advantage of the fact that most Android apps are written in Java and the portion of the code that checks to see whether a particular app is properly licensed is easily identifiable and removable. The new method, which comes out just a few weeks after Google debuted its new licensing scheme, simply requires a user to add a small patch to the decompiled Java code of a given application, which will result in the licensing library thinking that the app is licensed, when it is not. The method was described in a post on AndroidPolice, in which the author details exactly how the licensing scheme works and what a user needs to do in order to evade it. The way that the Android Market Licensing service works is fairly simple. After a user downloads and installs a paid application, the service will check with the Market server to see whether the app is licensed. If it is not, the server will return a message saying that the app must be licensed. The licensing status is stored on the Market server and is signed using a unique key pair. The link for this article located at ThreatPost is no longer available. . The crack takes advantage of the fact that most Android apps are written in Java and the portion of . researchers, found, simple, method, evading, android, licensing, scheme, google. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
ava programs are especially vulnerable to decompilers, because Java source code is compiled to Java bytecode. But there are techniques to make decompilation harder. It is a difficult prospect to take machine level code and translate it backwards into language level . . . . ava programs are especially vulnerable to decompilers, because Java source code is compiled to Java bytecode. But there are techniques to make decompilation harder. It is a difficult prospect to take machine level code and translate it backwards into language level code with a complex programming language. Today, many modern compilers have built-in security features that remove all variables and function names, move code to optimize execution, strip all comments, and make the translation as difficult as possible. Unfortunately, it is easy to recover an assembler language version of a Java program. This is because Java's constant pool contains a great deal of information about the source code. Java programs are especially vulnerable to decompilers, because Java source code is compiled to Java bytecode, which is a platform independent abstraction layer for the virtual machine. Because Java's bytecode contains interface and type information that runs safety checks on the language before it is actually run on the machine, decompiling is much easier in Java than most other development languages. The link for this article located at Earthweb is no longer available. . ava programs are especially vulnerable to decompilers, because Java source code is compiled to Java . programs, especially, vulnerable, decompilers, because, source, compiled. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
n this installment in our series, we further examine the elements that should be part of a secure Java code policy, including such safeguards as compartmentilization and cryptography. In our last installment, we introduced policy and covered product requirements, error handling, . . . . n this installment in our series, we further examine the elements that should be part of a secure Java code policy, including such safeguards as compartmentilization and cryptography. In our last installment, we introduced policy and covered product requirements, error handling, and object states. Part two will finish discussing elements that should be part of a secure Java code policy. Sensitive information refers mainly to passwords, algorithms, and cryptographic keys, but could mean any sort of information a product uses that is not intended for an end user to see. Ideally, this kind of data should never be hard-coded, or put into permanent memory, which can be difficult, because some of Java's other security features, such as automatic garbage collection. The link for this article located at EarthWeb is no longer available. . Delve into essential protections such as modularity and encryption to strengthen your Java coding standards. Uncover optimal techniques.. Secure Java Development, Java Security Practices, Code Safeguards. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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