Why Securing HTTPS With Certificate Pinning On Android Is Important?
The topic of online security has become the utmost priority with the advancement of digital technologies. It has become essential for the industries and individuals to take necessary steps to secure their sensitive and crucial information. Using HTTPS protocol for website communication is one such security-ity measure which encrypts the information transfer between a user’s browser and server.
Attackers can still take advantage of the vulnerabilities and loopholes even after using HTTPS protocol. This is where certificate pinning makes an appearance. It adds an additional layer of protection that guarantees only enabling trusted certificates during SSL/TLS handshake on Android devices. In this post, we will discuss the importance of Certificate Pinning on Android for securing HTTPS on Android devices, and how to use it to protect your data.
What do you mean by certificate pinning?
Certificate pinning is the procedure of connecting a domain name to an anticipated SSL/TLS certificate, more popularly and formally known as an X.509 certificate. Every time a user clicks on the link, the device needs to establish a connection with the server hosting the name of that domain. To do so, a TLS handshake is essential so both parties can exchange messages, verify each other, decide on the encryption algorithms to use, and then set the session to be used moving forward. The connection is pinned when, during the TLShandshake, the device receives the server certificate and only initiates the connection of its trusts to specific certificates.
How does certificate pinning security measure actually work?
Certificate Pinning on Android is a security mechanism that enables an application to only provide access to a single certificate or set of certificates when interacting with a server. It is different from the more typical strategy of believing every certificate issued by a reputable certificate authority. With the help of certificate pinning, an app can create a foundational trust relationship with a particular server. The app thereafter compares any certificates given by the server to that standard.
The app will refuse to communicate with a server if the pinning certificate provided by the server does not match with the expected certificate. You can defend against the man-in-the-middle attacks in which a hacker tries to intercept and change communications between an app and a server with the help of certificate pinning. Certificate Pinning on Android makes it far more difficult for an attacker to be successful in such an attack by limiting the use of certificates for communication.
What are the beneficial aspects of certificate pinning?
- Increased security: certificate pinning increases the overall security of communications by requiring the client to verify the identity of the server.
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- Improved privacy: It makes sure that the communications and exchange is secure and encrypted, certificate pinning can help improve the privacy of the transmitted data.
- Reduced risk of attack: Certificate pinning can help in reducing the risk of attack by making it more difficult for the attackers to intercept and read or modify data being exchanged
- Improved user experience: By offering a more safe, secure and private communication channel, certificate pinning can help to improve the overall user experience.
What are the essential tools for certificate pinning?
Certificate pinning can be seen as a precaution measure that enables organizations to specify which certificate authorities have the right to issue certificates for their domain. Certificate pinning can help in preventing man-in-the-middle attacks by making sure that only reputable CAs can do so.
HPKP is a widely used tool for a certificate pinning implementation. Organizations are able to specify which public keys can be used for their domain by using HPKP. A browser will check the HPKP header of a website that has HPKP enabled to see if any of the public keys match the public key of the certificate that was used to make the connection.
The browser will show a warning message to the user if none of the public keys matches. TLS certificate chain validation is an additional device for implementing certificate pinning. This method entails defining a list of trusted CAs in each client and making the client verify that the server’s certificate’s CA chain corresponds to one of the trusted CAs on the list
Conclusion
The above-provides facts and information discusses why securing HTTPS with certificate pinning on android is important. Attackers can still take advantage of the vulnerabilities and loopholes even after using HTTPS protocol. Certificate pinning increases the overall security of communications by requiring the client to verify the identity of the server. Stay updated for more informative details.
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