How to Enable Secure Offline Access for Android apps

Learn to Add offline access in Android apps, in mobile CI/CD with a Data-Driven DevSecOps™ build system.

What is offline access?

Mobile TOTALData Encryption is used for protecting data stored within a mobile app. Smart Offline Handling is an extension to Appdome TOTALData Encryption, which allows developers of apps that require authentication to enable access to some of the files that the app generates.
With Appdome TOTALData^TM Encryption, all data stored inside the mobile app (including media files) is encrypted at run-time by using industry-standard AES-256 cryptographic protocols. When the Appdome Smart Offline Handoff option is enabled, Appdome decrypts the app’s data only after the user successfully authenticates.
Additionally, the developer can specify a folder for offline file access, along with the required conditions that must be met in order to permit offline access to the data (for example the required conditions may include a time expiration, or require additional authentication, such as a pincode or biometric authentication). To enable this feature you need to toggle on the Require Local Authentication feature.
Another way to enhance the security in this feature, is to enable Store in Protected Memory toggle. This enables storing the encryption key used for the offline folder in an encrypted memory segment, thereby preventing attackers from seeing the key when dumping the application’s memory.

Why Use Smart Offline Handoff?

Prerequisites for Using Smart Offline Handoff:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Add offline access , you’ll need:

• Appdome account (create a free Appdome account here)
• A license for Smart Offline Handoff
• Mobile App (.apk or .aab for Android)
• Signing Credentials (see Signing Secure Android apps and Signing Secure iOS apps)

Add offline access on Android apps using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Add offline access without an SDK or gateway:

1. Upload the Mobile App to Appdome.

   1. Upload an app to Appdome’s Mobile App Security Build System

   2. Upload Method: Appdome Console or DEV-API
   3. Android Formats: .apk or .aab
   4. Smart Offline Handoff Compatible With: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps

2. Build the feature: Smart Offline Handoff.

   1. Building Smart Offline Handoff by using Appdome’s DEV-API:

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Smart Offline Handoff feature as shown below:
      

      Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Smart Offline Handoff feature
      Note: Naming the Fusion Set to correspond to the protection(s) selected is for illustration purposes only (not required).

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2.1-2.2.2 of this article, Building the Smart Offline Handoff feature via Appdome Console, to add the Smart Offline Handoff feature to this Fusion Set.

      3. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set, as shown in Figure 1 above, and get the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below):

         Figure 2: Fusion Set Detail Summary
         Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, App Center, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Cirlce CI or other system:

         1. Build an API for the app – for instructions, see the tasks under Appdome API Reference Guide
         2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository

   2. Building the Smart Offline Handoff feature via Appdome Console

      To build the Smart Offline Handoff protection by using Appdome Console, follow the instructions below.

      1. Where: Inside the Appdome Console, go to Build > Security Tab > TOTALData™ Encryption section.

         Like all other options in ONEShield™, Smart Offline Handoff is turned on by default, as shown below:

         Figure 3: Smart Offline Handoff option
         Note: The App Compromise Notification contains an easy to follow default remediation path for the mobile app end user. You can customize this message as required to achieve brand specific support, workflow or other messaging.

      2. How: Toggle (turn ON) Smart Offline Handoff, as shown below.

         Figure 3: Add offline access option

      3. When you select the Smart Offline Handoff you'll notice that your Fusion Set you created in step 2.1.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Smart Offline Handoff

         

         Figure 4: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Smart Offline Handoff protection

      4. Click Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 3).

   Congratulations!  The Smart Offline Handoff protection is now added to the mobile app

3. Certify the Smart Offline Handoff feature in Android Apps.

   After building Smart Offline Handoff, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Smart Offline Handoff protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Smart Offline Handoff protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below:

   Figure 5: Certified Secure™ certificate

   Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Smart Offline Handoff has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Smart Offline Handoff and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app