Encrypted Application Component Segmentation for Android Runtime Compatibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile operating systems like Android face challenges in encrypting individual components within application package files without altering critical attributes, leading to runtime errors or application failures during execution.
Innovation Solution
A method that identifies individual components within an application package, encrypts them, decomposes the encrypted files into primary and auxiliary files matching critical attributes, and replaces the original components, allowing for secure access and execution by recomposing the files during runtime.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If individual components within an application package are encrypted, then security is improved, but critical attributes such as file size and names are altered causing runtime errors
Solution Approach 1:
The encrypted file is divided into multiple encrypted chunks, where the first chunk is padded to match the original file's critical attributes (size, name), and subsequent chunks contain the remaining encrypted data. This segmentation allows the encrypted content to maintain attribute compatibility while providing security.
Solution Approach 2:
A padding mechanism acts as an intermediary between the encrypted content and the original file attributes. The padding adds dummy data to the first encrypted chunk to make it match the original file size and other critical attributes, allowing the system to accept the encrypted file without attribute mismatches.
2Reliability
If the encryption process changes file attributes, then security is enhanced, but the application fails to execute properly during runtime
Solution Approach 1:
By splitting the encrypted file into chunks and selectively padding only the first chunk, the solution maintains attribute compatibility for the portion that the operating system checks (first chunk matching original attributes) while still providing encryption for the entire file content.
Solution Approach 2:
The encryption process normally changes file parameters like size, but this invention selectively modifies only the first chunk's parameters through padding to match the original, while allowing subsequent chunks to have their natural encrypted parameters. This selective parameter management resolves the conflict between encryption and execution compatibility.
3Device complexity
If all encrypted data is placed in a single file, then simplicity is maintained, but the file size attribute mismatch causes runtime errors
Solution Approach 1:
The encrypted data is divided into multiple files (first encrypted chunk, second encrypted chunk, etc.), allowing the first chunk to be sized to match the original file attributes while distributing the remaining encrypted data across additional files. This segmentation resolves the attribute mismatch problem.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of trying to fit all encrypted data into a single file (one-dimensional constraint), the solution transitions to a multi-file structure (adding another dimension of organization), where the first file handles attribute matching and additional files accommodate the remaining encrypted content.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method for managing encrypted files within application packages may include (1) identifying an individual component within an application package that requires encryption, (2) creating an encrypted file by encrypting the individual component, (3) decomposing the encrypted file into (a) a primary encrypted file that contains an initial portion of the encrypted file that matches a critical attribute of the individual component and (b) an auxiliary encrypted file that contains the remaining portion of the encrypted file, and (4) replacing, within the application package, the individual component with the primary encrypted file and the auxiliary encrypted file. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.