Policy-Based Runtime Control for Mobile Applications
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile devices face security threats due to static security mechanisms being overwhelmed by sudden and unexpected attacks, requiring an efficient and flexible way to enforce and update security policies in real-time.
Innovation Solution
Implementing policy-based development and runtime control for mobile applications, where security policies are embedded as descriptors and can be dynamically updated, ensuring that applications comply with global and API-specific policies, allowing for on-the-fly validation and enforcement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If static security mechanisms are used, then security policies are simple to implement, but they cannot respond to sudden and unexpected attacks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic security policies that can be updated at runtime without requiring application restart. The security policy descriptor is loaded into memory and can be modified by the policy enforcement point, allowing the system to adapt to new threats while maintaining operational continuity. This resolves the contradiction by making security mechanisms dynamic rather than static.
Solution Approach 2:
The security system is divided into separate components: policy decision points, policy enforcement points, and policy repositories. This segmentation allows independent updates of security policies without affecting the entire system, enabling rapid response to threats while keeping individual components manageable in complexity.
2Speed
If security policies are updated in real-time, then response to new threats is improved, but validation and enforcement complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Security policies are pre-validated against a schema before being installed on the device. The policy descriptor includes structural validation rules that ensure syntactic correctness and basic logical consistency before deployment. This preliminary validation reduces the complexity of runtime verification while enabling rapid updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the policy enforcement point monitors policy compliance and reports violations to the policy decision point. This continuous feedback loop enables automatic adjustment and enforcement of security policies without requiring complex manual validation at each update stage.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, process, and associated systems for policy-based development and runtime control of mobile applications. Security objects that describe or enforce security policies are embedded into the source code of an enhanced application while the application is being developed. When a user attempts to launch the enhanced application on a mobile device, the security objects are updated to match a latest valid version of the objects stored on an enterprise server. The security objects may be further updated at other times. Global security policies, which affect the entire enterprise and which may deny the application permission to launch, are enforced by a global security policy stored within one of the updated security objects. If the application does run, application-specific security policies contained in the updated security objects modify application behavior at runtime in order to enforce application-specific security policies.