US20160132317A1 - Secure Application Distribution Systems and Methods - Google Patents

Abstract

Systems and methods are described that use software diversification techniques to improve the security of mobile applications. Embodiments of the disclosed systems and methods may, among other things, facilitate secure application distribution through deployment of diverse of applications in an application distribution channel. Software diversification consistent with certain disclosed embodiments may mitigate large-scale automated circumvention of security protections by presenting attacking malware moving and/or otherwise unpredictable diverse targets.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS
• This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/076,354, filed Nov. 6, 2014, and entitled “SECURE APPLICATION DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS AND METHODS”, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
COPYRIGHT AUTHORIZATION
• Portions of the disclosure of this patent document may contain material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY
• The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for distributing secure software applications. More specifically, but not exclusively, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods that use software diversification techniques in connection with generating and distributing secure software applications.
• Software applications, including mobile software applications, may be targeted in a variety of attacks. For example, mobile software applications may be targeted in man-at-the-end attacks—attacks against mobile applications from device-resident malware. Maintaining mobile application security may be important to a variety of value chain stakeholders, including device users and other transaction participants. Implementing digital rights management (“DRM”) in connection with controlled media applications may help improve application security, and DRM and/or other security methods may be further used in connection with applications involving advertising, payments, and/or other types of value exchange. Secure device hardware may be used to strengthen device security, but such hardware might not be universally deployed across devices.
• Systems and methods disclosed herein may use software diversification methods to improve the security of mobile applications. Embodiments of the disclosed systems and methods may, among other things, facilitate secure application distribution through deployment of diverse applications in an application distribution channel. Software diversification consistent with certain disclosed embodiments may mitigate large-scale automated circumvention of security protections by presenting attacking malware with moving and/or otherwise unpredictable diverse targets, akin in certain aspects to a reverse of the strategy used by polymorphic malware in evading anti-virus tools. Consistent with embodiments disclosed herein, applications may be different in their implementation from device to device (i.e., different users may receive different implementations of a single application version), thereby frustrating the deployment of effective malware. In certain embodiments, diversity between applications may be achieved by enabling application stores to distribute various diverse instances of an application to various devices.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The inventive body of work will be readily understood by referring to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
• FIG. 1 illustrates deployment of diverse mobile software applications consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure.
• FIG. 2 illustrates a process of generating and distributing diverse secure mobile software applications consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure.
• FIG. 3 illustrates generation and deployment of mobile software application instances to an application store for distribution to devices consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure.
• FIG. 4 illustrates generation and deployment of mobile software application instances by an application store consistent with embodiments disclosed herein.
• FIG. 5 illustrates personalization of a mobile application by a device using a personalization service consistent with embodiments disclosed herein.
• FIG. 6 illustrates personalization of a mobile application by a device consistent with embodiments disclosed herein.
• FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of a mobile application build and deployment process consistent with embodiments disclosed herein.
• FIG. 8 illustrates a system that may be used to implement certain embodiments of the systems and methods of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• A detailed description of systems and methods consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure is provided below. While several embodiments are described, it should be understood that the disclosure is not limited to any one embodiment, but instead encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications, and equivalents. In addition, while numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments disclosed herein, some embodiments can be practiced without some or all of these details. Moreover, for the purpose of clarity, certain technical material that is known in the related art has not been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the disclosure.
• Some embodiments of the disclosure may be understood by reference to the drawings, wherein like parts may be designated by like numerals. The components of the disclosed embodiments, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following detailed description of certain illustrative embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, as claimed, but is merely representative of possible embodiments of the disclosure. In addition, the steps of any method disclosed herein do not necessarily need to be executed in any specific order, or even sequentially, nor need the steps be executed only once, unless otherwise specified.
• Embodiments of the system and methods disclosed herein may employ software diversification in connection with mobile application generation and distribution. In some embodiments, software diversification may be used to alter a software application (e.g., altering an executable binary) in various ways to create multiple instances of the application that, while providing the same and/or similar functionality, to an attacker appear different and/or operate differently (e.g., operate differently on the binary level). Software diversification may frustrate an attacker's attempts to exploit information gained from one deployment of an application to compromise other deployments. Although certain embodiments disclosed herein are discussed in connection with diverse mobile applications and/or mobile devices, it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments may be further employed in connection with any other type of software application diversification and/or systems or devices for interacting with and/or executing the same.
• In certain embodiments, the systems and methods described herein can, for example, be used in connection with digital rights management (“DRM”) technologies such as that described in commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/583,693, “Digital Rights Management Engine Systems and Methods,” filed Oct. 18, 2006, and published as U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0180519 (“the '693 application”), service orchestration and DRM technologies such as those described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,387, “Interoperable Systems and Methods for Peer-to-Peer Service Orchestration” (“the '387 patent”), (the contents of '693 application and the '387 patent being hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties), as well as in other contexts.
• FIG. 1 illustrates deployment of a diversemobile software application100 to amobile device102 consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. In certain embodiments, amobile software application100 may be generated by anapplication developer system104 and uploaded to anapplication store system106 for distribution to one or moremobile devices102. In other embodiments, theapplication developer system104 may not be directly used to generate themobile application100, but may be a system used by and/or otherwise associated with an application developer for use in connection with uploading themobile application100 to theapplication store system106 for distribution. As discussed in more detail below, theapplication developer system104 may continuously and/or periodically upload a plurality of diverse instances of themobile application100 to theapplication store system106 for distribution to one or moremobile devices102, thereby reducing the potential for a successful attack against theapplication100 across multiple devices.
• Theapplication developer system104,application store system106,mobile devices102, and/or other systems (not shown) used in connection with the disclosed embodiments may comprise any suitable computing system or combination of systems configured to implement embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, theapplication developer system104,application store system106,mobile device102, and/or other systems providers may comprise at least one processor system configured to execute instructions stored on an associated non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. As discussed in more detail below, theapplication developer system104,application store system106,mobile device102, and/or other systems may further comprise a secure processing unit (“SPU”) configured to perform sensitive operations such as trusted credential and/or key management, secure policy management, and/or other aspects of the systems and methods disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, theapplication developer system104,application store system106,mobile device102, and/or other systems may comprise a laptop computer system, a desktop computer system, a server computer system, a smartphone, a tablet computer, and/or any other computing system and/or device that may be used in connection with the disclosed systems and methods.
• Theapplication developer system104,application store system106,mobile device102, and/or other systems may further comprise software and/or hardware configured to enable electronic communication of information between the devices and/or systems102-106 via one or more associated network connections (e.g., network108). The network connections may comprise a variety of network communication devices and/or channels and may use any suitable communication protocols and/or standards facilitating communication between the connected devices and systems. For example, in some embodiments thenetwork108 may comprise the Internet, a local area network, a virtual private network, and/or any other communication network utilizing one or more electronic communication technologies and/or standards (e.g., Ethernet and/or the like). In some embodiments, the network connections may comprise a wireless carrier system such as a personal communications system (“PCS”), and/or any other suitable communication system incorporating any suitable communication standards and/or protocols. In further embodiments, the network connections may comprise an analog mobile communications network and/or a digital mobile communications network utilizing, for example, code division multiple access (“CDMA”), Global System for Mobile Communications or Groupe Special Mobile (“GSM”), frequency division multiple access (“FDMA”), and/or time divisional multiple access (“TDMA”) standards. In certain embodiments, the network connections may incorporate one or more satellite communication links. In yet further embodiments, the network connections may use IEEE's 802.11 standards, Bluetooth®, ultra-wide band (“UWB”), Zigbee®, and or any other suitable communication protocol(s).
• Theapplication developer system104 may comprise a computing device executing one or more applications configured to implement certain embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, theapplication developer system104 may be used by a developer to code, compile, and/or otherwise generate amobile application100 and/or a particular instance of the mobile application (e.g., a unique instance or the like). In other embodiments, theapplication developer system104 may be used to manage one or more mobile applications generated using a separate system (not shown). In some embodiments, applications and/or instances thereof, described in more detail below, may be stored and/or otherwise managed by theapplication developer system104 in anapplication database110.
• Theapplication developer system104 may be configured to diversify distributedmobile applications100 by generating a plurality of instances of themobile application100 that, in certain embodiments, may be unique instances. In certain embodiments, diversified application instances may have the same and/or similar functionality but may be altered in such a way that to an attacker (e.g., malware or the like) they appear to be different and/or operate differently.
• As discussed in more detail below, diversity in applications may be introduced at a variety of times in the application generation and/or build process to create various application instances. For example, diversity may be introduced during coding of an application, at various stages of compilation of the application, and/or during a provisioning and/or personalization process. In certain embodiments, diverse application instances may be generated by an applicationinstance generation engine112 executing on theapplication developer system104. A variety of types of software diversification may be used in connection with the disclosed embodiments including, without limitation, data diversification and/or code diversification. In certain embodiments, both data diversification and code diversification may be employed in connection with generating diverse software instances.
• Embodiments employing data diversification may embed certain data values referenced by application code that vary among different instances of the same application. As an example, the applicationinstance generation engine112 may embed different cryptographic keys across various application instances configured to encrypt information stored on an executing device or that excerpts other keys imported into the application. Even if an attacker managed to extract the cryptographic key embedded in a particular application instance, the attacker could not use the extracted key to decrypt certain secret information included in other application instances. In certain embodiments, data diversification may be introduced by injecting unique and/or otherwise personalized data values into program code (e.g., binary image code) during code compilation and/or deployment. Data values introduced as part of data diversification methods consistent with the disclosed embodiments may further include, without limitation, keys, nonces, salt, white-box cryptography (“WBC”) data structures, homomorphic encryption including fully homomorphic encryption (“FHE”) data structures, and/or other randomly generated cryptographic information.
• In some embodiments, a secure key provisioned as part of a data diversification process may be stored by in a protected processing environment such as a secure key box. In certain embodiments, a secure key box may be configured to protect the secrecy and/or integrity of the secure key. The secure key box may further protect software code used in connection with secure computations performed by an associated device using code digests and/or any other verifiable computing techniques.
• In some embodiments, the secure key box may use white-box cryptographic and/or homomorphic encryption methods (e.g., FHE methods) that allow the secure key to remain encrypted, even during execution of associated cryptographic methods. In certain embodiments, the secure key box may enable the secure key to be stored and/or used in connection with cryptographic methods without exposing the secure key in clear text. For example, in some embodiments, the secure key box may allow storage and/or use of the secure key without exposing the secure key in code and/or in memory of adevice102 having an open architecture. In certain embodiments, a secure key box may be implemented separately and/or in connection with a hardware-isolated secure enclave and/or a more traditional secure hardware element (e.g., a subscriber identity module (“SIM”) chip and/or a smart card chip) for use in connection key operations.
• The secure key box may be used in connection with both static keys and/or encrypted dynamic keys that may be loaded and/or decrypted at run time. In further embodiments, separate secure key boxes associated with different devices may store and/or operate on secure keys using different encryption formats. In certain embodiments, a secure key box may enable protection of secure keys and/or computations performed using the same without the use of dedicated security hardware included in adevice102.
• In some embodiments, secure information such as, for example, the secure key may be encrypted when transmitted out of a secure key box. In certain embodiments, the secure key may be managed by a personalization service, described in more detail below, in a separate secure key box operating thereon (not shown). When transmitted from the secure key box of the personalization service as part of a personalization process of an application, the secure key box of the personalization service may encrypt the secure key with a common export key shared with the secure key box of thedevice102. In some embodiments, the secure key may be encrypted with a shared symmetric key and/or a public asymmetric key. Upon receipt by theclient device102, the secure key box of thedevice102 may decrypt the received encrypted secure key using the common export key for use in connection cryptographic methods.
• Embodiments employing code diversification may introduce varied instructions (e.g., binary instructions) between different application instances and/or between separate sets of application instances. In certain embodiments, code diversification may be introduced using methods to improve the tamper-resistance of a software application including, without limitation, code obfuscation, instruction set randomization, integrity protection, junk code insertion, code expansion, and/or virtualization. In some embodiments, a subset and/or component of an application may include diversified code across various instances of the application. For example, sensitive parts of application code may include diversified code across instances (e.g., cryptographic routines and/or components or the like). In other embodiments, code diversification may be employed across an entire application executable.
• In certain embodiments,diversified applications100 may include information identifying a particular instance of the application and/or version of the application. For example, as illustrated inFIG. 1, amobile application100 may comprise aninstance ID116 and aversion ID118. Consistent with embodiments disclosed herein, a plurality of application instances (e.g., applications having different instance IDs116) may be associated with aparticular version ID118, and various application instances and/or versions may be managed together and/or separately in accordance with the disclosed embodiments. In some embodiments, theinstance ID116 associated with a particular application may be used by a developer post-deployment in connection with application diagnosis, error reporting, and/or the like.
• An instance of amobile application100 may be uploaded by theapplication developer system104 to theapplication store system106 for distribution to one or moremobile devices102. Theapplication store system106 may include anapplication store database120 storing one or more mobile applications and/or instances thereof. Anapplication store engine122 may be configured to manage requests frommobile devices100, uploading operations fromdeveloper systems104, and/or otherwise coordinate the downloading ofapplications100 tomobile devices102 and other operations of theapplication store system106.
• In certain embodiments, the upload of themobile application100 to theapplication store system106 may be managed by anapplication distribution module114 executing on theapplication developer system104. Theapplication distribution module114 may employ a variety of possible uploading methodologies with respect to varied application instances that, in some embodiments, may be articulated in an application diversification schedule and/or policy. For example, in some embodiments, a first software application instance may be initially uploaded to theapplication store system106. After a particular period of time has elapsed (e.g., an hour, a day, a week, etc.), a second software application instance replacing the first software application instance may be uploaded to theapplication store system106. Based on the time when mobile devices (e.g., mobile device102) download the application from theapplication store system106, the mobile devices will receive different instances of the application (e.g., the first or second instance), thereby facilitating application diversity across a number of devices.
• Application diversification policies may further employ other time-based diversification schedules. For example, a diversification schedule may facilitate continuous uploading of various application instances to theapplication store system106 by thedeveloper system104 at a variety of suitable fixed time frequencies and/or based on an irregular or otherwise random pattern. Diversification policies and/or schedules may, in addition and/or in alternative to being time-based, be based on geographic and/or device parameters. For example, varied application instances may be uploaded to theapplication store system106 for distribution to devices located in different geographic regions. Similarly, varied application instances may be uploaded to theapplication store system106 for deployment to varied types of devices, device models, individual serialized devices, and/or the like. It will be appreciated that a wide variety of application diversification schedules and/or policies may be used in connection with the disclosed systems and methods, and that the disclosed embodiments may employ any suitable schedule and/or policy that results in differentiation between application instances across multiple devices.
• Certainapplication store systems106 may require that anapplication100 be inspected and/or otherwise tested for compliance with one or more requirements prior to distribution todevices102. For example, after anapplication100 is initially uploaded to theapplication store system106, thesystem106 may inspect and/or test theapplication100 for compliance with certain security requirements. New versions of theapplication100 uploaded to theapplication store system106 may be similarly tested and/or inspected.
• In some embodiments,applications100 may be diversified such that various instances of the application do not need to be individually inspected and/or tested for compliance withapplication store system106 requirements. In certain embodiments, this may be achieved by introducing diversity (e.g., code and/or data diversity) into portions of an application's code that are not tested and/or otherwise inspected by theapplication store system106. In some embodiments, this may streamline the process of uploadingvarious application instances100 to theapplication store system106 and reduce the burden on theapplication store system106 to inspect and/or test each instance.
• Certainapplication store systems106 may be configured to push updates of an application tocertain devices102 when a new version of anapplication100 is uploaded to theapplication store system106. In embodiments employing time-based diversification policies and/or schedules for release of various application instances, such a push and/or pull update of a new application version may undesirably result in a large number ofdevices102 being updated with the same application instance (e.g., the initial instance of the new application version). Accordingly, in some embodiments, release of new versions tocertain devices102 may be delayed following an initial version release (e.g., randomly delayed, delayed according to a particular schedule, etc.) such that devices receive varied application instances of the new application version in connection with application updates. In some embodiments, diversity may be introduced in connection with software updates and/or new version updates to ensure updates and/or new versions comprise diverse and/or otherwise unique instances of theapplication100.
• It will be appreciated that a number of variations can be made to the architecture and relationships presented in connection withFIG. 1 within the scope of the inventive body of work. For example, without limitation, in some embodiments, some or all of the functions performed by theapplication developer system104 may be performed by theapplication store system106. Similarly, some or all of the functions performed by theapplication store system106 may be performed by theapplication developer system104. Thus it will be appreciated thatFIG. 1 is provided for purposes of illustration and explanation, and not limitation.
• FIG. 2 illustrates a process of generating and distributing diverse secure mobile software applications consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated, theapplication developer system104 may generate a first instance of a mobile application (“Mobile Application Instance1”) using any suitable method of introducing diversity between various application instances (e.g., code diversification, data diversification, code obfuscation, etc.). The first instance may be uploaded to anapplication store system106 for deployment to one or moremobile devices102a,102b. In certain embodiments, uploading of the first instance may be based, at least in part, on an articulated application diversification schedule and/or policy.
• After the first application instance has been uploaded to theapplication store system106, amobile device102amay issue a request to download and/or otherwise install the application. In response to this request, theapplication store system106 may transmit the first instance of the application to themobile device102a. Upon receipt of the first instance, themobile device102amay perform an installation process to install the application on thedevice102a.
• An application diversification schedule and/or policy associated with a particular application may articulate that new application instances should be generated by theapplication developer system104 and uploaded to theapplication store system106 according to a time-based schedule (e.g., following a fixed and/or randomly determined release period between instance releases or the like). Accordingly, at the completion of an instance release period, theapplication developer system104 may generate a second instance of a mobile application (“Mobile Application Instance2”) using any suitable method of introducing diversity between various application instances and may upload the second instance to theapplication store106 for deployment to requestingmobile devices102a,102b.
• Once uploaded, the second application instance may replace the first application instance in theapplication store system106. Accordingly, amobile device102bissuing a request to download and/or otherwise install the application after the second application instance has been uploaded to theapplication store system106 may receive the second instance of the application in response to the request for installation. In this manner, based on themobile devices102aand102bhaving requested the application from theapplication store system106 at different times, thedevices102a,102bmay receive different instances of the application, thereby providing application diversity between thedevices102a,102binstalling the deployed applications and improving their associated security.
• FIG. 3 illustrates generation and deployment of mobile software application instances to an application store for distribution to devices consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. In certain embodiments, in lieu of and/or in addition to uploading a single instance of an application to anapplication store system106 at a particular time (e.g., based on an instance release schedule and/or policy or the like), theapplication developer system106 and/or an applicationinstance generation engine112 executing thereon may generate a plurality ofdiverse application instances300 and upload the plurality ofdiverse application instances300 to theapplication store system106.
• Application instances300 uploaded to theapplication store system106 may be included and/or managed in anapplication store database120. When theapplication store system106 receives a request from amobile device102 to download the application, theapplication store system106 may select and transmit an instance of the application from the plurality ofapplication instances300 included in thedatabase120. In some embodiments, the particular instance may be selected from the plurality ofinstances300 based on a diversification policy and/or schedule. For example, a time-based diversification policy, a location-based diversification policy, and/or a device-based diversification policy may be used in connection with selecting and/or distributing aparticular application instance100 of the plurality ofinstances300. In some embodiments, the selection and/or distribution of theapplication instance100 may be performed using, at least in part, anapplication distribution module114 executing on theapplication store system106.
• As an example, in some embodiments, theapplication store system106 may distribute afirst application instance100 from the plurality ofinstances300 to requestingdevices102 for a certain instance release period), and then continuously cycle through distributing different applicant instances of the plurality during subsequent instance release periods. In another example, theapplication store system106 may distributeapplication instances100 from the plurality ofapplication instances300 that are unique to each requestingdevice102. Theapplication store system106 may further randomly distributeapplication instances100 from the plurality ofinstances300 to requestingdevices102. In yet another example, theapplication store system106 may distribute afirst application instance100 from the plurality ofinstances300 to requestingdevices102 included in a first geographic region, and distribute different instances to requesting devices located in other regions.
• In certain embodiments, by implementing instance selection and/or determination decisions using theapplication store system106, greater diversity of deployedinstances100 may be achieved as more granular instance selection determinations may be made based on a particular requestingdevice102. In addition, the burden on theapplication developer system104 and/or theapplication store system106 associated with continuously uploading new instances for distribution may be reduced. Similarly, the burden of frequent inspection and/or otherwise testing of application instance compliance with store requirements may be reduced, as all and/or a subset of the plurality ofinstances300 may be inspected and/or tested for compliance as a group, thereby streamlining the inspection and/or testing process.
• FIG. 4 illustrates generation and deployment of mobile software application instances by anapplication store system106 consistent with embodiments disclosed herein. In some embodiments, theapplication store system106 may be configured to generatediverse application instances100 for distribution to mobile devices based on information provided by the application software developer system104 (e.g., anundiversified application400 or the like).
• Diversity in applications may be introduced at a variety of times in theapplication100 generation and/or build process to create various application instances. For example, diversity may be introduced during coding of an application, at various stages of compilation of the application, and/or during a provisioning and/or personalization process, certain aspects of which may be performed by theapplication store system106. In certain embodiments, diverse application instances may be generated by an applicationinstance generation engine112 executing on theapplication store system104 employing any of the types of software diversification methods disclosed herein.
• In certain embodiments, theapplication store system106 and/or aninstance generation engine112 executing thereon may be configured to generateapplication instances100 by including diversified code and/or data in certain components and/or portions of the application. For example, in some embodiments,diverse instances100 may be generated by including diverse code between multiple instances in a particular component of an application. In further embodiments, diverse instances may be generated by including certain diverse data such as a cryptographic key or the like between multiple instances of the application. In certain embodiments, diversifying a subset and/or a component of an application rather than an entire application may reduce the burden on theapplication store system106 in connection with generatingdiverse instances100.
• In further embodiments, theapplication store system106 and/or theinstance generation engine112 executing thereon may be configured to perform a portion of a build process for an application to generate adiversified instance100 of the application. In such embodiments, theapplication developer system104 may transmit information (e.g., undiversified application information400) to theapplication store system106 used to complete a build process for the application to generate an associatedapplication instance100. In some embodiments, theapplication developer system104 may further transmit instructions and/or preferences for introducing diversity to theapplication store system106 and/or to safeguard application performance and/or user experience requirements.
• As an example, theapplication developer system104 may transmitapplication information400 to theapplication store system106 that comprises application bit code and/or an intermediate representation of the application. Using theapplication information400, theapplication store system106 and/or theinstance generation engine112 may perform bit code obfuscation to diversify the bit code and/or the intermediate representation of the application. Theapplication store system106 may then perform a back end compilation process on the application bit code and/or intermediate representation to generate a machine code representation of the application which may be used to generate anexecutable application instance100 for transmission to requestingmobile devices102. In certain embodiments, generation of theapplication instance100 and/or the bit code obfuscation and/or backend compilation process may be performed in response to receiving a request from amobile device102 to download the application (i.e., just-in-time (“JIT”) instance generation).
• In certain embodiments, generating diverse application instances at theapplication store system106 may allow for individualized and/or otherwise serialized unique application instances to be generated for individual requestingdevices102. For example, in some embodiments, serialized and/or otherwise unique information associated with a requestingdevice102 may be used by theapplication store system106 in connection with generating adiverse application instance100. In further embodiments, serialized and/or otherwise unique information associated with a user of a requesting device (e.g., user account, registration, and/or authentication data) may be used by theapplication store system106 in connection with generatingdiverse application instances100.
• In some embodiments, anapplication distribution module114 executing on theapplication store system106 may be configured to manage the generation and/or distribution ofunique application instances100 to requesting devices102 (e.g., based on an associated diversification policy and/or schedule or the like). Generatingdiverse application instances100 at theapplication store system106 may further reduce the burden of generation and/or uploading a plurality of application instances by theapplication developer system104, and may further streamline application and/or testing processes performed by theapplication store system106.
• FIG. 5 illustrates personalization of amobile application502 by adevice102 using apersonalization service500 consistent with embodiments disclosed herein. In some embodiments, diversity in an application may be introduced by adevice102 after downloading theapplication502 from theapplication store system106 through a personalization and/or provisioning process.
• As illustrated, anapplication developer system104 may provide theapplication store system106 with amobile application502 configured to be personalized during and/or following installation of theapplication502 on adevice102. After downloading theapplication502 from theapplication store system106 and during and/or following the installation of theapplication502, themobile device102 may issue apersonalization request506 to apersonalization service500, which may comprise any suitable computer system configured to implement application personalization methods consistent with the disclosed embodiments. In response to thepersonalization request506, thepersonalization service500 may generate and/or accesspersonalization information508 and transmit thepersonalization information508 to themobile device102. Thepersonalization information508 may include any suitable information for use in connection with generating a unique application instance including, for example, code patches, keys, data values, user account information, user registration information, and/or the like. Themobile device102 may use thepersonalization information508 to generate a personalized and/or otherwise diversified instance of theapplication504 for execution on thedevice102. For example, using thepersonalization information508, themobile device102 may embed and/or otherwise reference certain data values unique to the instance of theapplication504, thereby introducing data diversity to theapplication504.
• In at least one example, following receipt of a mobile application from theapplication store system106, themobile device102 may request thepersonalization service500 to generate and provide a unique key used for use in connection with cryptographic operations performed by the mobile application. Thepersonalization service500 may generate the key and return it to themobile device102. Upon receipt, themobile device102 may provision the cryptographic components of the mobile application with the key to generate adiversified application instance504.
• In some embodiments, when diversity is introduced by themobile device102 through a personalization and/or provisioning process, certain security measures may be taken to reduce the potential for theapplication504 to be compromised by an attack. For example, code patches included inpersonalization information508 may be signed and signature verification may be strongly enforced by thedevice102. In further embodiments, themobile device102 may comprise a hardware-enforced secured environment for code loading and/or personalization of theapplication502 to generate a diversified application instanced504. Various software code protection techniques to protect diversity mechanisms may further be delivered directly to thedevice102 to improve security of the personalization process. Introducing diversity at themobile device102 may, among other things, reduce the burden on theapplication developer system104 and/orapplication store system106 of application instance generation and/or applying schedules or policy associated with distribution of various application instances.
• FIG. 6 illustrates personalization of amobile application600 by amobile device102 consistent with embodiments disclosed herein. In certain embodiments,personalization information602 may be generated and/or otherwise accessed by anapplication developer system104 and/or anapplication store system106. Thepersonalization information602 may be downloaded to themobile device102 from theapplication store system104 together with and/or separately from themobile application600.
• In some embodiments, thepersonalization information602 may include information to personalize and/or otherwise diversify a single instance of an application. For example, thepersonalization information602 may comprise a key used to diversify cryptographic components of an application instance. In other embodiments, thepersonalization information602 may include information that may be used to generate a plurality ofapplication instances604. As part of a personalization and/or diversification process to generate an application instance, a subset of the information included in thepersonalization information602 may be selected and used in connection with a personalization process to generate a diversified instance of theapplication604. In certain embodiments, such a process may be performed by a mobileapplication personalization engine606 executing on themobile device102.
• In at least one example, thepersonalization information602 may comprise a plurality of cryptographic keys. In connection with a personalization and/or diversification process to generate anapplication instance604, the mobileapplication personalization engine606 may randomly select a cryptographic key of the plurality of cryptographic keys and provision the cryptographic components of themobile application600 with the selected cryptographic key to generate adiversified application instance604. In this manner, a common library ofpersonalization information602 may be sent to a number of mobile devices that may use information in the library to generate a diversified and/or otherwiseunique application instance604.
• FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of a mobile application build anddeployment process700 consistent with embodiments disclosed herein. The illustratedprocess700 may be implemented in a variety of ways, including using software, firmware, hardware, and/or any combination thereof. In certain embodiments, various aspects of themethod700 may be implemented by an application developer system, an application store system, a mobile device, a personalization service system, an update system, and/or any other related system as described above. Certain embodiments included in the illustratedprocess700 may implement code diversity in connection with generating diversified application instances. It will be appreciated, however, that data diversity may be similarly implemented in connection with the illustrated process. In addition, it will be appreciated that a mobile application build and deployment process may incorporate all of the elements of the illustratedprocess700 or a subset thereof, and may proceed in any suitable order.
• At702, source code associated with an application may be obfuscated using any suitable source code software obfuscation technique. Front end compilation of the obfuscated application source code may be performed at704 to generate a bit code and/or intermediate representation of the application code. Bit code obfuscation methods may be performed at706 that introduce diversity into the particular application instance being built.
• To ensure the obfuscation does not detrimentally alter the expected functionality of the bit code, the bit code may be tested at708 to see if the bit code functions as expected. If the bit code does not function as expected, themethod700 may proceed to terminate. If the bit code functions as expected, themethod700 may proceed to710, where back end compilation of the bit code and/or intermediate representation code may be performed to generate machine code. In certain embodiments, the back end compilation and/or certain other subsequent steps may be performed by an application store system prior to delivering the application instance to the device.
• Following back end compilation, linking of the machine code may be performed at712. Compilation may produce several object files referring to code entry points and global variables by symbolic address. A linker may be provided with some initial required code entry points to build in, and may select which dependent pieces of object code are to be used in the linking operation. The linker may arrange how the object code is to be loaded in an executable memory space, and may resolve symbolic addresses to numerical addresses. The linker may further produce an executable (e.g., machine code) program file and/or an executable library (e.g., DLL or SO file). In some embodiments, program dependencies that reside in dynamic libraries (e.g, DLL or SO) may be resolved at load time or at run time by a linking loader, which may be part of the target device's operating system.
• At714, the linked machine code may be obfuscated. As detailed above, machine code obfuscation may examine the machine code following linking and apply certain code transformations to make the code difficult to reverse engineer and/or to foil static analysis tools. Machine code patching may be performed at716, where certain changes to the executable application and/or its accompanying resources may be applied. In certain embodiments, patching may facilitate referencing of certain numerical code addresses following obfuscation processes.
• To ensure the obfuscation does not detrimentally alter the expected functionality of the machine code, the machine may be tested at718 to see if the code functions as expected. If the code does not function as expected, themethod700 may proceed to terminate. If the code functions as expected, themethod700 may proceed to720, where the application may be packed for delivery to devices.
• The application may be downloaded by a device and unpacked at722. Although not illustrated, the application may further be patched by the device after unpacking to introduce diversity to the application. In some embodiments, the application may be tested by the device at724 to determine whether it functions as expected. If the application does not function as expected, themethod700 may proceed to terminate. If the application functions as expected, themethod700 may proceed to726, where the application may be provisioned with certain information. For example, in some embodiments, a personalization process may be performed to provision the application with certain personalized information (e.g., personalized keys or the like), thereby introducing further diversity to the application.
• FIG. 8 illustrates asystem800 that may be used to implement certain embodiments of the systems and methods of the present disclosure. Thesystem800 may comprise an application developer system, an application store system, a mobile device, a personalization service system, an update system, and/or any other system configured to implement certain aspects the systems and methods described herein. In certain embodiments, thesystem800 may perform certain functions associated with an authentication device, a trusted authority, and/or another related service as disclosed herein.
• As illustrated inFIG. 8,system800 may include: aprocessor802;system memory804, which may include high speed RAM, non-volatile memory and/or one or more bulk non-volatile computer-readable storage mediums (e.g., a hard disk, flash memory, etc.) for storing programs and other data for use and execution by theprocessor802; an interface816 (e.g., an input/output interface) that may include a display and/or one or more input devices such as, for example, a touchscreen, a keyboard, a mouse, a track pad, and the like; aport806 for interfacing withremovable memory808 that may include one more diskettes, optical storage mediums, and/or other computer-readable storage mediums (e.g., flash memory, thumb drives, USB dongles, compact discs, DVDs, etc.); anetwork interface810 for communicating with other systems via a network812 using one or more communication technologies; one ormore sensors818 that may comprise one or more location sensors; and one ormore buses832 for communicatively coupling the aforementioned elements.
• In certain embodiments,network830 may comprise the Internet, a local area network, a virtual private network, and/or any other communication network utilizing one or more electronic communication technologies and/or standards (e.g., Ethernet or the like). In some embodiments, thenetwork interface810 and/ornetwork830 may be part of a wireless carrier system, such as a PCS, and/or any other suitable communication system incorporating any suitable communication standards and/or protocols. In further embodiments, thenetwork interface810 and/ornetwork830 may be part of an analog mobile communications network and/or a digital mobile communications network utilizing, for example, CDMA, GSM, FDMA, and/or TDMA standards. In still further embodiments, thenetwork interface810 and/ornetwork830 may incorporate one or more satellite communication links and/or use IEEE's 802.11 standards, near-field communication, Bluetooth®, UWB, Zigbee®, and or any other suitable standard or standards.
• In some embodiments, thesystem800 may, alternatively or in addition, include aSPU814 that is protected from tampering by a user ofsystem800 or other entities by utilizing secure physical and/or virtual security techniques. AnSPU814 can help enhance and/or facilitate the security of sensitive operations such as private management of secret or other secure information, and other aspects of the systems and methods disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, theSPU814 may operate in a logically secure processing domain and be configured to protect and operate on secret information. In some embodiments, theSPU814 may include internal memory storing executable instructions or programs configured to enable to theSPU814 to perform secure operations.
• The operation ofsystem800 may be generally controlled by theprocessor802 operating by executing software instructions and programs stored in the system memory804 (and/or other computer-readable media, such as removable memory808). Thesystem memory804 may store a variety of executable programs or modules for controlling the operation of thesystem800. For example, thesystem memory804 may include an operating system (“OS”)820 that may manage and coordinate, at least in part, system hardware resources and provide for common services for execution of various applications and a trust and privacy management system822 for implementing trust and privacy management functionality including protection and/or management of secret information. Thesystem memory804 may further include, without limitation,communication software824 configured to enable in part communication with and by thesystem800,applications826 and/or an application store, an applicationinstance generation engine112 configured to generate diversified application instances, anapplication distribution module114, and/or any other information and/or applications configured to implement embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein.
• One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the systems and methods described herein can be practiced with computing devices similar or identical to that illustrated inFIG. 8, or with virtually any other suitable computing device, including computing devices that do not possess some of the components shown inFIG. 8 and/or computing devices that possess other components that are not shown. Thus it should be appreciated thatFIG. 8 is provided for purposes of illustration and not limitation.
• The systems and methods disclosed herein are not inherently related to any particular computer, electronic control unit, or other apparatus and may be implemented by a suitable combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Software implementations may include one or more computer programs comprising executable code/instructions that, when executed by a processor, may cause the processor to perform a method defined at least in part by the executable instructions. The computer program can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, and can be deployed in any form, including as a standalone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. Further, a computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network. Software embodiments may be implemented as a computer program product that comprises a non-transitory storage medium configured to store computer programs and instructions, that when executed by a processor, are configured to cause the processor to perform a method according to the instructions. In certain embodiments, the non-transitory storage medium may take any form capable of storing processor-readable instructions on a non-transitory storage medium. A non-transitory storage medium may be embodied by a compact disk, digital-video disk, a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, flash memory, integrated circuits, or any other non-transitory digital processing apparatus memory device.
• Although the foregoing has been described in some detail for purposes of clarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles thereof. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways of implementing both the systems and methods described herein. Accordingly, the present embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Claims (13)

What is claimed is:

1. A method for generating and distributing diverse application instances performed by a system comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the system to perform the method, the method comprising:

generating a first instance of an application;

transmitting the first instance of the application to an application store system for distribution to one or more user devices;

generating a second instance of the application, the second instance of the application being different, at least in part, than the first instance of the application;

accessing a policy associated with a release of the second instance of the application to the application store system; and

transmitting the second instance of the application to the application store system at a time determined based on the accessed policy, the second instance of the application being configured to replace the first instance of the application in the application store system for distribution to the one or more user devices.

2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein generating the first instance of the application comprises embedding code in the application unique to the first instance of the application.

3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the code is embedded in a subcomponent of the application.

4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein generating the first instance of the application comprises embedding data in the application unique to the first instance of the application.

5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the data is embedded in a subcomponent of the application.

6. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the embedded data comprises at least one of a key, a nonce, and random salt data.

7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein generating the second instance of the application comprises embedding code in the application unique to the second instance of the application.

8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the code is embedded in a subcomponent of the application.

9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein generating the second instance of the application comprises embedding data in the application unique to the second instance of the application.

10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the data is embedded in a subcomponent of the application.

11. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the embedded data comprises at least one of a key, a nonce, and random salt data.

12. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the policy associated with the release of the second instance of the application specifies an instance release time period following transmission of the first instance of the application to the application store system and the determined time is based on the instance release time period.

13. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the policy associated with the release of the second instance of the application specifies a randomly determined release time period and the determined time is randomly determined.

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