What are some of the best anti-tampering strategies?

Anti-tampering technologies protect software, hardware, and other systems from unauthorized modifications or reverse engineering by third parties. Such measures help protect sensitive data, overall system security, and intellectual property rights.

• Code Obfuscation: Obfuscation involves changing the source code of software applications to make it more difficult for attackers to understand its logic. Obfuscation can make reverse engineer more challenging by adding unnecessary complexities, renaming functions and variables, or changing code flow.
• Encryption: Encrypting essential software components and firmware can prevent unauthorized access and modification. Only those who possess the decryption key can modify or reverse-engineer its code.
• Digital Signatures: Digital signatures can be used to verify authenticity and integrity in software applications. Developers sign the code using a private key. Users use a matching public key to prove it. Users can identify any potential falsification efforts in real-time.
• Memory Protection: By utilizing address space-layout randomization (ASLR), data execution prevention, and other techniques like data execution prevention and address space-layout randomization, attackers will have a more challenging time exploiting vulnerabilities.
• Tamper-Resistant Hardware: Hardware-based methods involve using special chips or modules designed to store sensitive components or information securely while being resistant to physical attacks such as probing or tampering.
• Code Integrity checks: Integrating checksums and hash functions into the code can help detect tampering.
• Anti-debugging: Intruders often use debuggers to find software vulnerabilities and make modifications. However, anti-debugging methods can stop this by detecting debugging activities and responding accordingly.
• Dynamic Code Loading: It is possible to make it more difficult for an attacker to analyze a codebase by dynamically loading parts of the code during runtime. This approach involves loading code from encrypted and obfuscated resources.
• Rootkit Detection: Rootkits, a malicious software designed to hide unauthorized access, is critical to detecting such covert attacks.
• Custom Packer/Protector tools: These specialized software tools compress and encrypt executable files, making it harder for an attacker to modify or analyze the code.
• Behavioral analysis: Analyzing the behavior of software programs at runtime helps detect anomalies caused by any attempts to tamper. This approach is used to detect deviations from their expected behavior.
• White-Box cryptography: White-box cryptography involves designing secure algorithms, even if malicious attackers gain access to the implementation (source code). This prevents them from re-engineering the algorithm’s inner workings.

No single technique can protect completely from tampering, reverse engineering, or unauthorized access. To provide adequate mobile app security, it may be necessary to use several approaches tailored to the specific threat landscape and use case. Security is a process that should never stop. Anti-tampering requires constant updates and adaptations in order to keep up with the constantly evolving attack techniques.

I recommend visiting NIST and Zimperium’s Mobile Security Glossary to learn more about mobile app security.