How to Detect Malicious Proxies in Android & iOS Apps

Learn to Detect Malicious Proxy in Mobile apps, in mobile CI/CD with a Data-Driven DevSecOps™ build system.

What are Malicious Proxies?

Malicious proxies are proxy servers that are often used by malicious agents in mobile Man in the Middle (MiTM) attacks.

Hackers target insecure networks and Wi-Fi connections and hijack the connection between a mobile app and the server to which the app tries to connect. They then redirect the session to malicious proxies so they can perform malevolent actions such as harvesting data, stealing credentials, and depositing malware.

How Does Appdome Prevent the use of Malicious Proxy Servers?

When the Malicious Proxy Detection is enabled, Appdome detects any attempt to connect to or from unknown, untrusted, or malicious proxies or other intermediary devices.

Prerequisites for Using Malicious Proxy Detection:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect Malicious Proxy , you’ll need:

• Appdome account (create a free Appdome account here)

• A license for Pin to Host/MiTM Prevention

• Mobile App (.ipa for iOS, or .apk or .aab for Android)

• Signing Credentials (see Signing Secure Android apps and Signing Secure iOS apps)

Detect Malicious Proxy on Mobile apps using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these simple steps to create self-defending Mobile Apps that Detect Malicious Proxy 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. Mobile App Formats: .ipa for iOS, or .apk or .aab for Android
   4. Malicious Proxy Detection Compatible With: Obj-C, C+, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more

2. Build the feature: Malicious Proxy Detection.

   1. Building Malicious Proxy Detection by using Appdome’s DEV-API:

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Malicious Proxy Detection feature as shown below:
      

      Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Malicious Proxy Detection 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 Malicious Proxy Detection feature via Appdome Console, to add the Malicious Proxy Detection 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
   Secure Communication MOBILEBot™ Defense

   2. Building the Malicious Proxy Detection feature via Appdome Console

      To build the Malicious Proxy Detection protection by using Appdome Console, follow the instructions below.

      1. Where: Inside the Appdome Console, go to Build > Security Tab > Secure Communication section.

         Like all other options in ONEShield™, Malicious Proxy Detection is turned on by default, as shown below:

         Figure 3: Malicious Proxy Detection 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: Check whether MiTM Prevention is toggled On (enabled), otherwise enable it . You can see that the feature Malicious Proxy Detection is enabled by default, as shown below.

         Figure 3: Detect Malicious Proxy option

      3. When you enable MiTM Prevention you'll notice that your Fusion Set you created in step 2.1.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Malicious Proxy Detection

         

         Figure 4: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Malicious Proxy Detection protection

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

   Congratulations!  The Malicious Proxy Detection protection is now added to the mobile app

3. Certify the Malicious Proxy Detection feature in Mobile Apps.

   After building Malicious Proxy Detection, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Malicious Proxy Detection protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Malicious Proxy Detection 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 Malicious Proxy Detection has been added to each Mobile app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Malicious Proxy Detection and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app