Mobile Application Threat Modeling? You are a cyber threat analyst at a mobile applications company. One morning, your supervisor, Dan, tells you about a mobile applicatio

CST620 Project 3 Resources

Deliverables by May 13th

· Threat Model Report: An eight- to 10-page double-spaced Word document with citations in APA format. The report should include your findings and any recommendations for mitigating the threats found. The page count does not include figures, diagrams, tables, or citations.

· Lab Report: A Word document sharing your lab experience along with screenshots. (I will Provide).

Mobile Application Threat Modeling

You are a cyber threat analyst at a mobile applications company. One morning, your supervisor, Dan, tells you about a mobile application security project that is already under way, but needs more guidance. Because of your success on previous projects, he wants your help.

Your expertise and oversight will enable the mobile app team to meet its approaching deadline. "Mobile applications and their security are on the technology roadmap for our organization. Of course, this means we need to be well-informed of mobile application security management," Dan says.

"Without the proper threat modeling, leadership can't be sure of the issues that lie ahead. I want you to oversee the project and manage the team," Dan says. "We'd also like you to contribute to this project by preparing a report for senior management." The report should include threat models to this technology as well as remediation for management to consider. The report should give senior management a greater understanding of mobile application security and its implementation.

Your report should consist of the following sections: mobile application architecture, mobile data, threat agent identification, methods of attack, and possible controls. The goal is to convince senior managers that your proposals will benefit the company. If you succeed, leadership will move forward with its plan for mobile applications. The report is due in two weeks.

Threat modeling begins with a clear understanding of the system in question. There are several areas to consider when trying to understand threats to an application. The areas of concern include the mobile application structure, the data, identifying threat agents and methods of attack, and controls to prevent attacks. The threat model should be created with an outline or checklist of items that need to be documented, reviewed, and discussed when developing a mobile application.

In this project, you will create a threat model. There are seven steps that will lead you through this project, beginning with the scenario as it might occur in the workplace, and continuing with Step 1: “Describe Your Mobile Application Architecture.” Most steps in this project should take no more than two hours to complete, and the project as a whole should take no more than two weeks to complete.

Step 1: Describe Your Mobile Application Architecture

In your role as a cyber threat analyst, senior management has entrusted you to identify how a particular mobile application of your choosing conforms to mobile architecture standards. You are asked to:

1. Describe device-specific features used by the application, wireless transmission protocols, data transmission media, interaction with hardware components, and other applications.

2. Identify the needs and requirements for application security, computing security, and device management and security.

3. Describe the operational environment and use cases.

4. Identify the operating system security and enclave/computing environment security concerns, if there are any.

This can be fictional or modeled after a real-world application. This will be part of your final report. Click the following links and review the topics and their resources. These resources will guide you in completing this task:

Network Security Threats

Threats or vulnerabilities to network security can be broadly classified into three categories: accidental disclosures, deliberate penetrations, and physical attacks (Ware, n.d.). Accidental disclosures can occur due to hardware/software failures, or improper actions of users with access to secure data. Deliberate penetrations can happen because of active infiltration by insiders who are authorized to access confidential data. Physical attacks refers to risks posed on physical infrastructure or environment, usually by outsiders.

References

Ware, W. (n.d.). Security controls for computer systems: Report of defense science board task force on computer security, RAND report R-609-1. http://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R609-1/index2.html#C

Threat Modeling

Threat modeling is performed to identify, analyze, and mitigate security risks to systems and applications. According to the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Foundation, there are three steps of threat modeling for applications (OWASP, n.d.):

Step 1: Decompose the application. The first step in the threat modeling process is concerned with gaining an understanding of the application and how it interacts with external entities. Step 2: Determine and rank threats. Critical to the identification of threats is using a threat categorization methodology. Step 3: Determine countermeasures and mitigation. A lack of protection against a threat might indicate a vulnerability whose risk exposure could be mitigated with the implementation of a countermeasure.

Effective and well-documented threat modeling can prevent attacks and secure confidential information.

References

The OWASP Foundation. (n.d.). Application threat modeling. https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Application_Threat_Modeling

Mobile Architectures

Several organizations are adopting centralized mobile device management approaches, which use client/server architecture to control the use of personal and work-issued devices and protect the security of confidential data. The architecture consists of single or multiple centralized servers that connect with clients using the applications installed on their devices (which are always running in the background). According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Souppaya & Scarfone, 2013):

If the device is organization issued, the client application typically manages the configuration and security of the entire device. If the device is BYOD, the client application typically manages only the configuration and security of itself and its data, not the entire device. The client application and data should be sandboxed from the rest of the device's applications and data in a secure container, both helping to protect the enterprise from a compromised device and helping to preserve the privacy of the device's owner. (p. 7)

References

Souppaya, M., & Scarfone, K. (2013).  Guidelines for managing the security of mobile devices in the enterprise: Special Publication 800-124, Revision 1. National Institute of Standards and Technology.  http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-124r1.pdf

Application Security

Application security testing is performed by organizations to ensure that their applications and software contain no errors or vulnerabilities and interact with users and other applications securely. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's guideline document (Scarfone et al., 2008):

Application security assessment should be integrated into the software development life cycle of the application to ensure that it is performed throughout the life cycle. For example, code reviews can be performed as code is being implemented, rather than waiting until the entire application is ready for testing. Tests should also be performed periodically once an application has gone into production; when significant patches, updates, or other modifications are made; or when significant changes occur in the threat environment where the application operates. (p. C-1)

The application security testing techniques can be broadly classified into white box and black box techniques. White box techniques  are implemented by directly analyzing the source code, whereas black box techniques are implemented using the binary executable code.

References

Scarfone, K., Souppaya, M., Cody, A., & Orebaugh, A. (2008).  Technical guide to information security testing and assessment: Special Publication 800-115. National Institute of Standards and Technology. .  http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/SP/nistspecialpublication800-115.pdf

Operating System Security

Operating systems (OSs) are prone to several threats, including viruses, malware, snooping, spoofing, and denial of service. The three main aspects of OS security are confidentiality or prevention of theft, integrity or prevention of damage, and availability or prevention of service denial (Heiser, 2008).

It is worth noting that users pose one of the biggest threats to security:

The weakest point within any system is often the end user. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that a large percentage of security breaches over the last decade have come from the inside of an organization, often unknowingly by the user… Whether through careless actions or by deliberate intent, this is something that should be considered first and foremost in securing an OS. (Carnaghan, n.d.)

References

Heiser, G. (2008). Security: An advanced introduction. University of New South Wales (UNSW). http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs9242/08/lectures/06-security.pdf

Carnaghan, I. (n.d.). Operating systems security: Protection measures analysis. https://www.carnaghan.com/2015/10/operating-systems-security-protection-measures-analysis/

Enclave/Computing Environment

Enclave refers to a part of the network which is divided from the network, so that there is restricted access and sharing of confidential data. According to Mikkelsen and Jacobsen (2016):

The main principle relies upon the concept of a protected memory container, also referred to as an enclave. The enclave can be created through application code, where sensitive data are explicitly marked. When the application is executed, a sensitive part of the application's memory space is encapsulated within an enclave. (p. 218)

Enclaves do not interact with the other parts of the network, so the enclave computing environment promotes security and integrity of data and reduces threats.

References

Mikkelsen, S. A., & Jacobsen, R. H. (2016). Securing the home energy management platform. http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs-wm/50458.pdf

Begin by first reviewing the OWASP Mobile Security Project Testing Guide

OWASP Mobile Security Project Testing Guide

Introduction

A major priority of the OWASP Mobile Security Project is to help standardize and disseminate mobile application testing methodologies. While specific techniques exist for individual platforms, a general mobile threat model can be used to assist test teams in creating a mobile security testing methodology for any platform. The outline which follows describes a general mobile application testing methodology which can be tailored to meet the security tester’s needs. It is high-level in some places, and over time will be customized on a per-platform basis.

This guide is targeted towards application developers and security testers. Developers can leverage this guide to ensure that they are not introducing the security flaws described within the guide. Security testers can use it as a reference guide to ensure that they are adequately assessing the mobile application attack surface. The ideal mobile assessment combines dynamic analysis, static analysis, and forensic analysis to ensure that the majority of the mobile application attack surface is covered.

On some platforms, it may be necessary to have root user or elevated privileges in order to perform all of the the required analysis on devices during testing. Many applications write information to areas that cannot be accessed without a higher level of access than the standard shell or application user generally has. For steps that generally require elevated privileges, it will be stated that this is the case.

This guide is broken up into three sections:

· Prerequisites/Planning: tasks and requirements before conducting the mobile security assessment

· Information Gathering: describes the steps and things to consider when you are in early-stage reconnaissance and mapping phases of testing as well as determining the application’s magnitude of effort and scoping

· Static Analysis: analyzing raw mobile source code, decompiled, or disassembled code

· Dynamic Analysis: executing an application either on the device itself or within a simulator/emulator and interacting with the remote services with which the application communicates. This includes assessing the application’s local interprocess communication surface, forensic analysis of the local filesystem, and assessing remote service dependencies.

How To Use This Resource

In this current draft release, the guide is a work in progress. We need additional contributors to help fill in the blanks. If you think something is missing (there certainly is), add it.

As this guide is not platform specific, you will need to know the appropriate techniques and tools for your target platform. The OWASP Mobile Security Project has also developed a number of other supporting resources that you may be able to leverage for your needs.

The steps required to properly test an Android application are very different than the steps to properly test an iOS application. Likewise, Windows Phone is very different from the other platforms. Mobile security testing requires a diverse skillset over many differing operating systems and a critical ability to analyze various types of source code.

In many cases, a mobile application assessment will require coverage in all three areas identified within this testing reference. A dynamic assessment will benefit from an initial thorough attempt at information gathering, some level of static analysis against the application’s binary, and a forensic review of the data created and modified by the application’s runtime behavior.

Please use this guide in an iterative fashion, where work in one area may require revisiting previous testing steps. As an example, after completing a transaction you may need to perform additional forensic analysis on the device to ensure that sensitive data is removed as expected and not cached in an undesired fashion. As you learn more about the application at runtime, you may wish to examine additional parts of the code to determine the best way to evade a specific control. Likewise, during static analysis, it may be helpful to populate the application with certain data in order to prove or refute the existence of a security flaw.

In the future, contributors to the testing guide should consider adding entries under each section relevant to a specific platform. Over time, OWASP contributors will write platform-specific guides and expand upon this body of knowledge.

If a specific area of interest is not covered in this guide, please feel free to take either of the following actions:

· write the material yourself by registering for a wiki account and contributing content

· bring this up as a topic on the Mobile Project’s mailing list

Collaboration on building the guide is being performed within Google Docs.

Information Gathering

As a result of this initial information gathering exercise, the tester will be better prepared for the future testing phases. The sad truth is, testers (i.e., developers, QA, and security) often fail to take the time to learn the target application and supporting infrastructure, opting to dive in blind, possibly losing valuable time and missing possible attack vectors. Without a solid understanding of how the application should work as well as the technologies in use, the tester will not be able to identify when the application behaves in a manner that it shouldn’t.

Prerequisites of this phase may require specific operating systems, platform-specific software development kits (SDKs), rooted or jailbroken devices, and the ability to man-in-the-middle secure communications (i.e., HTTPS) and bypass invalid certificate checks.

· Proxy and sniff all network traffic from either a physical mobile device or an emulator/simulator. Begin recording and logging traffic (if your proxy tool permits logging, which most should).

· Register for and/or provision test accounts. Ideally, you will want two accounts per user role to ensure proper testing of vertical and horizontal privilege escalation attack vectors.

· Manually navigate through the running application to understand the basic functionality and workflow of the application. This can be performed on a real device or within a simulator/emulator.

· Identify the networking interfaces used by the application

· 3G/4G

· WiFi

· Bluetooth

· Near Field Communication (NFC)

· Virtual Private Network (VPN)

· Is all functionality available over 3G/4G, or is WiFi required for actions such as data synchronization?

· What networking protocols are in use? Are secure protocols used where needed? Can they be switched with insecure protocols?

· Does the application perform commerce transactions?

· credit card transactions and/or stored payment information

· in-app purchasing of goods or features

· Monitor and identify the hardware components that the application may potentially interact with the following:

· NFC

· Bluetooth

· GPS

· camera

· microphone

· sensors

· Perform open-source intelligence gathering (search engines, source code repositories, developer forums, etc.) to identify source code or configuration information that may be exposed (i.e., third party components integrated within the application).

· Identify if the application appears to interact with any other applications, services, or data such as:

· telephony (SMS, phone)

· contacts

· Google Wallet

· iCloud

· social networks (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+)

· Dropbox

· Evernote

· e-mail

· Can you determine anything about the server-side application environment?

· hosting provider (AWS, App Engine, Heroku, Rackspace, Azure, etc.)

· development environment (Rails, Java, Django, ASP.NET, etc.)

· Does the application leverage Single Sign On or Authentication APIs (Google Apps, Facebook, iTunes, OAuth, etc.)?

· Any other APIs in use?

· payment gateways

· SMS messaging

· social networks

· cloud file storage

· ad networks

· Perform a thorough crawl of exposed web resources and sift through the requests and responses to identify potentially interesting data or behavior.

· leaking credentials

· resources not exposed through the UI

· error messages

· cacheable information

Static Analysis

There are two primary ways static analysis will generally be performed on a mobile application:

· analyzing source code obtained from development team (prefered)

· Using a compiled binary: Some level of static analysis should be performed for both dynamic and forensic analysis, as the application’s code will almost always provide valuable information to the tester (i.e., logic, backend targets, APIs, etc).

In scenarios where the primary goal is to identify programmatic examples of security flaws, your best bet is to review pure source code as opposed to reverse engineering compiled software. For source code reviews, it is highly beneficial to have access to either a development or production instance of any web services. This includes both source code and a working test environment to perform the assessment within in order to expedite understanding of the code.

Getting Started

· If the source is not directly available, decompile or disassemble the application’s binary.

· extract the application from the device

· follow the appropriate steps for your platform’s application reverse engineering

· some applications may require decryption prior to reverse engineering

· Review the permissions the application requests as well as the resources that it is authorized to access (i.e., AndroidManifest.xml, iOS Entitlements).

· Are there any easy-to-identify misconfigurations within the application found within the configuration files? Debugging flags set, world readable/writable permissions, etc.

· Identify the libraries in use including both platform-provided as well as third party. Perform a quick review on the web to determine if these libraries meet the following conditions:

· are up to date

· are free of vulnerabilities

· expose functionality that requires elevated privileges (access to location or contact data)

· Does the application check for rooted/jailbroken devices? How is this done? How can this be circumvented? Is it as easy as changing the case of a file name or path?

· Determine what types of objects are implemented to create the various views within the application. This may significantly alter your test cases, as some views implement web browser functionality while others are native UI controls only.

· Is all code expected to run within the platform’s standard runtime environment, or are some files/libraries dynamically loaded or called outside of that environment at runtime?

· Attempt to match up every permission that the application requests with an actual concrete implementation of it within the application. Often, developers request more permission than they actually need. Identify if the same functionality could be enabled with lesser privileges.

· Locate hard-coded secrets within the application such as API keys, credentials, or proprietary business logic.

· Identify every entry point for untrusted data entry and determine how it enforces access controls, validates and sanitizes inbound data, and passes the data off to other interpreters.

· from web service calls

· receiving data from other apps and on-device services

· inbound SMS messages

· reading information from the filesystem

Authentication

· Locate the code that handles user authentication through the UI. Assess the possible methods of user impersonation via vectors such as parameter tampering, replay attacks, and brute force attacks.

· Determine if the application utilizes information beyond username/password, such as the following:

· contextual information (i.e., device identifiers, location)

· certificates

· tokens

· Does the application utilize visual swipe or touch passwords vs. conventional usernames and passwords?

· Assess the method of mapping the visual objects to an authentication string to determine if adequate entropy exists.

· Does the application implement functionality that permits inbound connections from other devices (i.e., WiFi Direct, Android Beam, network services)?

· Does the application properly authenticate the remote user or peer prior to granting access to device resources?

· How does the application handle excessive failed attempts at authentication?

· Single sign-on

· OAuth

· Facebook

· Google Apps

· SMS

· How is the sender authenticated?

· password

· header information

· Are one-time passwords (OTP) used, or is other sensitive account data transmitted via SMS?

· Can other applications access this data?

· Push notifications

· If the application consumes information via push notifications, how does the application verify the identity of the sender?

Authorization

· Review file permissions for files created at runtime.

· Determine if it is possible to access functionality not intended for your role.

· Identify if the application has role-specific functionality within the mobile application.

· Locate any potential flags or values that may be set on the client from any untrusted source that can be a point of privilege elevation, such as the following:

· databases

· flat files

· HTTP responses

· Find places within an application that were not anticipated being directly accessed without following the application’s intended workflow.

· Licensing

· Can licensing checks be defeated locally to obtain access to paid-for data resources (i.e., patching a binary, modifying it at runtime, or by modifying a local configuration file)?

· Does the code suggest that licensed content is served with a nonlicensed app but restricted by UI controls only?

· Are licensing checks performed properly by the server or platform licensing services?

· How does the application detect tampering and respond to tampering?

· Are alerts sent to and expected by the developer?

· Does the application fail open or fail closed?

· Does the application wipe its data?

Session Management

· Ensure that sessions time out locally as well as server-side.

· Is sensitive information utilized within the application flushed from memory upon session expiration?

Data Storage

· Encryption

· Are the algorithms used "best of breed," or do they contain known issues?

· Based on the algorithms and approaches used to encrypt data, do implementation issues exist that degrade the effectiveness of encryption?

· How are keys managed and stored on the device? Can this reduce the complexity of breaking the encryption?

· Identify if the application utilizes storage areas external to the sandboxed locations to store unencrypted data, such as the following:

· places with limited access control granularity (SD card, tmp directories, etc.)

· directories that may end up in backups or other undesired locations (iTunes backup, external storage, etc.)

· cloud storage services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or S3

· Does the application write sensitive information to the file system at any point, such as the following:

· credentials

· username and password

· API keys

· authentication tokens

· payment information

· patient data

· signature files

· Is sensitive information written to data stores via platform exposed APIs, such as contacts?

Transport Layer Protection

· Does the application properly implement certificate pinning?

· Are certificates validated to determine the following:

· the certificate has not expired

· the certificate was issued by a valid certificate authority

· the remote destination information matches the information within the certificate?

· Identify if code exist to alter the behavior for traffic transiting different interfaces (i.e., 3G/4G comms vs. WiFi)? If so, is encryption applied universally across each of them?

Information Disclosure

· Logs

· Does the application log sensitive information to a globally shared log?

· Can any of the logged information be considered a privacy violation?

· Caches

· predictive text

· location information

· browser cache

· Exceptions

· Does sensitive data leak in crash logs?

· Third-party libraries and APIs

· What permissions do they require?

· Do they access or transmit sensitive information?

· Can their runtime behavior expose users to privacy issues and unauthorized tracking?

· by the application

Web Application Issues

· XSS and HTML injection

· command injection (if the application utilizes a shell)

· CSRF

· SQL injection

· cookies

· HTML5

Architecture Considerations

Although mobile applications vary in function, they can be described in general as follows:

· wireless interfaces

· transmission type

· hardware interaction

· interaction with on device applications/services

· interaction with off device applications/services

· encryption protocols

· platforms

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