How to use DEVICETrust™ with MobileBOT™ Defense

Last updated May 15, 2024 by Appdome

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

What is DEVICETrust™?

DEVICETrust™ enhances Appdome’s MobileBOT™ Defense service by allowing you to establish customizable trust levels for mobile devices and applications before any connections are initiated. This capability supports tailoring trust models based on the specific class and type of the mobile application, which eases the burden on network/WAF infrastructure and ensures compliance with Zero-Trust policies.

How Does DEVICETrust™ Protect Your Mobile Apps?

DEVICETrust™ offers robust protection for your mobile apps through two trust levels:

  • Zero-Trust – Holds all connection requests until threat assessments and checks are fully completed.
  • Runtime-Trust – Allows connection requests to proceed while threat assessments and checks are still underway.

By default, DEVICETrust™ is activated for Standard Device & Connection Risk protections, covering risks such as Root, Magisk, Frida Toolkits, Emulators, and Simulators. Appdome detects these threats on a mobile device and promptly alerts the WAF. Additionally, you have the option to enable DEVICETrust™ for Advanced On-Device Bot Detection features, which include Detect VPN, Auto-Clicker, Android Virtualization, Custom Frida, Shell Code, Second Space, Memory Editing, and Android Players.

Note: Appdome detects threats and notifies the Web Application Firewall (WAF). However, it is important to understand that for DEVICETrust™ features, Appdome does not generate Threat Events or take enforcement actions directly.

 

Prerequisites for Using DEVICETrust™:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Enforce DEVICETrust™ , you’ll need:

Enforce DEVICETrust™ on Mobile apps using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Mobile Apps that Enforce DEVICETrust™ 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. DEVICETrust™ Compatible With: Obj-C, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more
  2. Build the feature: DEVICETrust™.

    1. Building DEVICETrust™ by using Appdome’s DEV-API:

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the DEVICETrust™ feature as shown below:
      2. fusion set that contains DEVICETrust™

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

      3. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2.1-2.2.2 of this article, Building the DEVICETrust™ feature via Appdome Console, to add the DEVICETrust™ feature to this Fusion Set.

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below):” fusion Set Detail Summary image

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

      5. 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, Circle 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 DEVICETrust™ feature via Appdome Console

      To build the DEVICETrust™ protection by using Appdome Console, follow the instructions below.

      1. Where: Inside the Appdome Console, go to Build > Anti Bot Tab > Secure Communication section.
      2. When you select the DEVICETrust™ you'll notice that your Fusion Set you created in step 2.1.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains DEVICETrust™

        Fusion Set applied DEVICETrust™

        Figure 4: Fusion Set that displays the newly added DEVICETrust™ protection

      3. Click Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 3).
    Congratulations!  The DEVICETrust™ protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the DEVICETrust™ feature in Mobile Apps.

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

    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 DEVICETrust™ has been added to each Mobile app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that DEVICETrust™ and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app

Using Threat-Events™ for DEVICETrust™ Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when DEVICETrust™ is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for DEVICETrust™ in Mobile Apps, use AddObserverForName in Notification Center, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for DEVICETrust™ shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for DEVICETrust™ are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Enforce DEVICETrust™ Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name DEVICETrust™
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check x
Visible in ThreatScope™ x
Developer Parameters for Enforcing DEVICETrust™ Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn PLMN of the device
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occured event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
carrierName Carrier name of the current device
updatedOSVersion Is the OS version up to date
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
timeZone Time zone
deviceFaceDown Is the device face down
locationLong Location longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLat Location latitude conditioned by location permission
locationState Location state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsid Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus Wifi SSID permission status

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Mobile developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Mobile applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when DEVICETrust™ is detected.

The following is a code sample for native Mobile apps, which uses all values in the specification above for DEVICETrust™:


Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Mobile Apps by using DEVICETrust™. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with DEVICETrust™

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Related Articles:

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How to Use Session Headers in Mobile Bot Defense

How to Validate a Nonce Payload with Appdome MobileBOT™ Defense

How to Use Appdome MobileBOT™ Defense

How to use Appdome Mobile EDR

How to use Threat-EKG with Appdome Mobile EDR

 

 

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

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