Apple tvOS will involve pre-installed apps using advanced application and cryptographic key security measures to prevent digital piracy and content theft. As this is anticipated to become standard security protocol for Apple tvOS app developers, Arxan Technologies has announced expanded application security protections for the platform.
Digital TV Research predicts that smart TVs will account for 36% of the total number of connected televisions by 2020, necessitating demand for the development of secure applications for the burgeoning ecosystem. So, a number of the applications which come pre-installed on the newly announced Apple TV require application security measures designed to assure app performance, protect sensitive data, and prevent tampering, reverse-engineering and cryptographic key exposure. This represents a natural and important step for developers as the internet of things (IoT) continues to take shape.
The Apple tvOS protections from Arxan use multi-layered guards, inserted within the binary code of the applications following the development process. The guards protect the application from being reverse-engineered and compromised at run-time. In addition, cryptographic keys contained within the applications are transformed to mitigate the risk of their being identified within the code or in memory at run-time.
“App developers have learned many lessons from iOS apps over the years, particularly the need to bake more robust protection into the apps before they are released ‘into the wild’, and they are now applying those lessons to Apple tvOS,” said Vince Arneja, VP of product management at Arxan. “The apps on the new Apple TV are responsible for delivering an exceptional customer experience, and to do that they must be secure and trusted. Given today’s heightened security risks associated with distributed applications, the advanced application security measures now being used are as essential as securing your baby in a car seat before driving your car.”