Giving Android a security boost (Part One)
Article Summary
Zomato's Android team is tackling a critical vulnerability that most apps ignore. Your encrypted HTTPS traffic might not be as secure as you think.
This deep dive from Zomato's engineering blog breaks down SSL pinning and why default Android certificate trust isn't enough. It's part one of a series on hardening mobile app security against man-in-the-middle attacks.
Key Takeaways
- Standard HTTPS trusts any CA certificate, enabling attackers to inject fake certificates
- SSL pinning locks your app to specific certificates or public keys
- Certificate pinning is easiest but requires updates when certificates rotate regularly
- Public key pinning stays valid even when certificates change (Google's approach)
- Without pinning, proxy tools can intercept all your encrypted app traffic
Critical Insight
SSL pinning adds a critical security layer by preventing your app from trusting malicious certificates that attackers inject into the device's trust store.
