Trainer Name: Abhishek J M

Title: Hacking Android & iOS Apps by Example

Duration: 3 Days

Dates: Sept. 20, 2023 To Sept. 22, 2023

Training Objectives

This course is a 100% hands-on deep dive into the OWASP Mobile Security Testing Guide (MSTG) and relevant items of the OWASP Mobile Application Security Verification Standard (MASVS), so this course covers and goes beyond the OWASP Mobile Top Ten.

Learn about Android and iOS app security by improving your mobile security testing kung-fu. Ideal for Penetration Testers, Mobile Developers, and everybody interested in mobile app security.

All action, no fluff, improve your security analysis workflow and immediately apply these gained skills in your workplace, packed with exercises, extra mile challenges, and CTF, self-paced and suitable for all skill levels, with continued education via unlimited email support, lifetime access, step-by-step video recordings and interesting apps to practice, including all future updates for free.

Training level: Basic; Intermediate; Advanced


Training Preview

Teaser Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re5oqfVkgd4


Training Outlines

This course is the culmination of years of experience gained via practical penetration testing of mobile applications as well as countless hours spent in research. We have structured this course around the OWASP Mobile Security Testing Guide (MSTG) and relevant items of the OWASP Mobile Application Security Verification Standard (MASVS), so this course covers and goes beyond the OWASP Mobile Top Ten. This course provides participants with actionable skills that can be applied immediately from day 1.

Please note our courses are 100% hands-on, we do not lecture students with boring bullet points and theories, instead, we give you practical challenges and help you solve them, teaching you how to troubleshoot common issues and get the most out of these training. As we try to keep both new and advanced students happy, the course is very comprehensive and we have not met any student able to complete all challenges during the class, therefore training continues after the course through our frequently updated training portal, for which you keep lifetime access, as well as unlimited email support.

Get a FREE taste for this training, including access to video recording, slides, and vulnerable apps to play with:

4-hour workshop - https://7asecurity.com/free-workshop-mobile-practical

Each day starts with a brief introduction to the mobile platform for that day and then continues with a look at the static analysis, moves on to dynamic checks finishing off with a nice CTF session to test the skills gained.

Day 1: Focused specifically on Android: We start with understanding applications and then deep dive into the static and dynamic analysis of the applications at hand. This day is packed with hands-on exercises and CTF-style challenges.

Day 2: Focused on iOS: We start with understanding iOS Architecture and various security precautions in place. We then focus on static and dynamic analysis of the applications at hand. The day is filled with hands-on exercises ending with a CTF for more practical fun.

Day 3: We cover advanced instrumentation techniques using Frida, Objection, radare2, r2frida, RMS, and other tools to overcome assessment challenges and take your skills to the next level. This day will give people a wealth of knowledge in dynamic instrumentation capabilities on Android.

Teaser Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re5oqfVkgd4

Training Outlines

This course will take any student and make sure that:

  • The general level of proficiency is much higher than when they came
  • The skills acquired can be immediately applied to mobile app security assessments
  • Skills can be sharpened via continued education in our training portal for free
  • The student is equipped to defeat common mobile app assessment challenges
  • People who are new to mobile security will learn a lot in this training.
  • Advanced students will come out with enhanced skills and more efficient workflows
  • The skills gained are highly practical and applicable to real-world assessments

Topics Included

  1. Review of Common Flaws in Source Code and at Runtime
  2. Modification of App Behavior Through Code/Configuration Changes
  3. Interception of Network Communication aka MitM
  4. Jailbreak/Root Detection Bypasses and App Review from a Privileged Standpoint
  5. Instrumentation (Review and Modification of App Behavior)
  6. CTF Challenges for Attendants to Test Their Skills

Why should you take this course?

This is more than a live online attendance course: You get the live online course but also lifetime access to a training portal with step-by-step video recordings, slides, and lab exercises, including all future updates for free.

Students can take the course at their own pace and training portal access ensures topics can be reviewed on an ad-hoc basis as required by the student online after the course.

This training has been built from real issues seen in real applications, not fabricated vulnerabilities that you will never see in practice.

The goal is to start from the basics and ensure that each student comes out of the training with a significantly higher level of proficiency in the artistry of mobile pen testing.

Students will be taught ways to identify the attack surface of mobile apps, exploit interesting vulnerabilities, and means to fix them. Ranging from fun defeating root/jailbreak detection, pinning, and modifying app behavior at runtime to inspecting what apps are doing in real time. The training also covers effective identification and exploitation of common vulnerability patterns, modification of Android and iOS apps at rest and at runtime, and more.

As the course has been written and carefully created by professional mobile app penetration testers, after many years of experience, many practical tips will be shared to leverage automation and make penetration testing more efficient as soon as the student goes back to their office.

Top 3 takeaways students will learn

  • Learn how to find vulnerabilities without even access to the physical device via mobile app analysis only.
  • Identify and exploit mobile app security vulnerabilities as efficiently as possible
  • Improve your mobile security testing process by leveraging a number of open-source tools, as well as lots of tips and tricks shared by the instructors after years of mobile app penetration testing.

Upon Completion of this training, attendees will know

Completing this training ensures attendees will be competent and able to:

  • Intercept mobile app network communications
  • Bypass certificate and public key pinning protections
  • Bypass jailbreak/root detection
  • Reverse engineer and analyze mobile apps from a black-box perspective
  • Review mobile app source code to identify security flaws
  • Perform a mobile app security review

Course Content (ToC)

Day 1: Hacking Android Apps by Example
- CTF time, including finding vulnerabilities through app analysis

Day 2: Hacking iOS apps by Example
- CTF time, including finding vulnerabilities through app analysis

Day 3: Leveling up your Andr...


What to Bring?

Hardware & Software: Attendees should bring

A laptop with the following specifications:

  • Ability to connect to wireless and wired networks.
  • Ability to read PDF files
  • Administrative rights: USB allowed, the ability to deactivate AV, firewall, install tools, etc
  • Knowledge of the BIOS password, in case VT is disabled.
  • Minimum 8GB of RAM (recommended: 16GB+)
  • 60GB+ of free disk space (to copy a lab VM and other goodies)
  • VirtualBox 6.0 or greater, including the “VirtualBox Extension Pack”
  • Genymotion (can be the free version)
  • A mobile phone capable of receiving text messages
  • A jailbroken iPhone / iDevice with iOS >=9 (ideally: iOS 12-14) for the iOS labs

NOTE: For physical training sessions the instructor will bring some jailbroken phones for testing, however, you are encouraged to bring your own for the best possible experience.

  • Optional but useful: One of the following BurpSuite, ZAP, or Fiddler (for MitM)
  • Optional but useful: A Mac/Hackintosh with the latest XCode installed, for iOS code review & labs

Training Prerequisite

This course has no prerequisites as it is designed to accommodate students with different skills:

  • Advanced students will enjoy comprehensive labs, extra miles, and CTF challenges
  • Less experienced students complete what they can during the class, and can continue at their own pace from home using the training portal.

This said, the more you learn about the following ahead of the course, the more you will get out of the course:

  • Linux command line basics
  • Android basics
  • iOS basics

Who Should Attend?

Any mobile developer, penetration tester, or person interested in mobile security will benefit from attending this training regardless of the initial skill level:

The course is for beginners, intermediate and advanced-level students. While beginners are introduced to the nuances of mobile app security from scratch, intermediate and advanced-level learners get to perfect both their knowledge and skills on the subject. Extra mile challenges are available in every module to help more advanced students polish their skills.

The course is crafted in a way that regardless of your skill level you will significantly improve your mobile security skills:

If you are new and cannot complete the labs during the class, that is OK, as you keep training portal access, you will learn a lot in the class but can continue from home with the training portal.

If you are more advanced in mobile security you can try to complete the labs in full and then take the CTF challenges we have for each day, you will likely also attempt to complete some exercises from home later :)

What to Expect?

This a fully practical class that will seriously improve your mobile security knowledge and skills, regardless of the skill level you come in with.

Battle-tested tips and tricks that take your abilities to the next level and that you can apply as soon as you go back to your workplace, making security testing of mobile apps as efficient as possible.

Intensive hands-on exercises that challenge you to deep dive into the world of mobile security.

Lifetime access to the training portal (including all future updates), unlimited email support, access to private groups to communicate with other students, and access to mandated apps, police apps, and otherwise interesting apps from various countries.

What attendees will get

  • Lifetime access to the training portal, with all course materials
  • Unlimited access to future updates and step-by-step video recordings
  • Unlimited email support, if you need help while you practice at home later
  • Government-mandated and police apps in various countries
  • Many other excitingly vulnerable real-world apps
  • Mobile apps controlling Toys, Drones, etc.
  • Digital copies of all training material
  • Custom Build Lab VMs
  • Purpose Build Vulnerable Test apps
  • Source code for test apps

What not to expect?

This is more than a live online attendance course: You get the live online course but also lifetime access to a training portal with step-by-step video recordings, slides, and lab exercises, including all future updates for free.

The course does not cover Android or iOS 0-day exploits against the platforms themselves, ARM exploit writing, writing buffer, or heap overflows.

Do not expect the teachers to be talking through slides most of the time: This class is practical, not theoretical, the teachers don’t bore you with slides all the time, instead, you do exercises all the time and the teachers help you solve the challenges you face as you complete them.

About the Trainer

Abhishek is a security enthusiast and has been working on mobile application security for the past 5 years. He is an avid CTF player and is the mobile security team lead of one of India's top CTF teams, Team bi0s. He is the author of notable open-source mobile security projects like Adhrit and EVABS which have been well-received in the community. He has presented his work and has conducted training at various meetups and conferences like OWASP Seasides, Threatcon, Cysinfo, and c0c0n. He is an open-source evangelist and spends his free time automating and building learning materials for mobile security.