On mobile devices, applications are the primary vector exploited by cybercriminals. Exposed to targeted attacks as well as large-scale attacks, they are a major entry point.
In this context, Application Shielding works by increasing the time and effort required for an attack to succeed.
Definition
Application Shielding refers to a set of techniques for hardening the binary code (obfuscation, encryption of code sections, anti-tampering, anti-debugging, emulator detection, etc.) aimed at making the code much harder to understand, modify, or instrument.
Its purpose is to prevent an attacker from analyzing the application or easily injecting malicious behavior.
This protection plays a dissuasive role: by significantly increasing the cost of attack (time, effort, expertise), it discourages the attacker and reduces the likelihood of success.
Benefits
Application Shielding reduces exposure to fraud and targeted attacks by making exploitation, cloning, and counterfeiting of applications much more difficult.
It also protects intellectual property by making reverse engineering complex, thereby limiting code copying and the injection of malicious behaviors.
This protection facilitates compliance (GDPR, DORA, NIS2, etc.) and prepares applications for industry standards and certifications (PCI MPoC, EMV Mobile, etc.).
Finally, by lowering fraud risk and signalling a high level of protection, Application Shielding strengthens user confidence in the security of their data.
Shielding best practices
Implementing effective Shielding relies on multiple practices:
-
Combining complementary techniques (obfuscation/encryption, anti-tampering, anti-debug, anti-capture, etc.) to cover a broader range of threats.
-
Choosing a solution with a low performance impact to preserve user experience.
-
Covering Android and iOS, as well as their main languages, in a single solution to avoid fragmentation.
Yagaan Application Shielding
Yagaan Application Shielding implements these practices and makes them operational easily and quickly, with its solution that requires no code and no security expertise. In just a few minutes, Yagaan protects your application’s binary code.
Yagaan Application Shielding is also complementary to our RASP (Runtime Application Self-Protection) solution, which adds a layer of self-protection at runtime when the environment is compromised.
