Automating Xamarin Protection with Dotfuscator

May 10, 2017 7083 Views Joseph Sewell

This week, all eyes of the software community will be fixed on Microsoft's Build conference. Microsoft and its partners are set to announce new technologies and lay out their vision for the future of software development. Recent years have seen the narrative take a decidedly cross-platform approach. Visual Studio Code gives developers tools to create what they want no matter their OS of choice. .NET Core extends the reach of the popular .NET Framework to Mac and Linux. Finally, Xamarin, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2016, lets app developers write their app once, then publish it for Android, iOS, and Windows devices.

As a Visual Studio 2017 Premier Launch Partner, PreEmptive Solutions is pleased to announce, as part of Microsoft Build 2017, a new way to integrate Dotfuscator's protection into Xamarin apps. This new Dotfuscator-Xamarin integration has a number of advantages:

Easy setup - Developers just download an MSBuild targets file and import it into their projects with a few simple property changes. No more need to define custom targets or copy files as a post-build step!
Deep pipeline integration - The new integration automatically puts Dotfuscator into the Xamarin build pipeline, protecting apps as they're built in Visual Studio or MSBuild. Developers don't have to worry about forgetting the protection step, since it's now included as part of the build.
Incremental builds - Don't waste time reapplying Dotfuscator's protection when your project hasn't changed. The integration is smart enough to know when a build is necessary, and when it can be skipped.
Automatic configuration - Get up and running quickly: the integration creates a Dotfuscator config file automatically, with sensible defaults for the project. Instructions are provided for further configuration, including a case study of how to discover which additional identifiers (if any) need to be excluded from renaming obfuscation.
Detailed instructions - We've detailed how to use the integration with a well-known Xamarin.Forms sample. Developers can see the practical application of these instructions through an included git repo, which walks through the process step-by-step.
All major project types supported - The integration supports projects targeting Android, iOS, and Universal Windows (UWP).
Proven protection strategy - The app is protected by Dotfuscator, the industry standard .NET obfuscation and protection tool.
Free to start - The integration works not only with the commercial Dotfuscator Professional Edition, but also with Dotfuscator Community Edition (CE), which is included with Visual Studio. Developers can use the integration to quickly discover the capabilities of Dotfuscator's protection.

To get started, see Integrating Dotfuscator's Protection into Your Xamarin Apps in Visual Studio. There you can read the step-by-step instructions, as well as download the necessary MSBuild targets file.

We plan to keep introducing features like this, to make the protection process easier and more accurate, for Xamarin and all other kinds of apps. Stay up-to-date with the latest Dotfuscator features by visiting the Dotfuscator Downloads page. For announcements and other information, keep an eye on our blog and follow our Twitter account, @PreEmptive.

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Non-Traditional Attack Vectors: Three Questions Every CISO Needs to Ask

Malicious actors — like any thieves — live by a simple rule: If the front door is locked, break the window.

It’s why threats like fileless malware and crypto-jacking have seen substantial gains over last few years. It’s why — despite increasing employee education and IT training — hackers are still hooking phish by developing more sophisticated and authentic-looking email spoofs. Cybercriminal communities, meanwhile, continue to grow on the dark web, allowing attackers to share info, purchase exploit kits and identify potential targets.

What does this mean for CISOs? That typical defense efforts are being outpaced as familiar attack vectors are replaced with non-traditional threats. But it’s not all bad news; here are three questions every CISO needs to ask to help close the doors, bolt the windows and leave hackers out in the cold.

Gabriel, you have been in the security industry for over 2 decades. You have seen many different tools and services. Why create a company around something as specific as obfuscation and in-app protection?

Our customers build a lot of really innovative apps that enable their users and customers to do new and cool things. These apps frequently run on untrusted client computers/devices and they control access to customer’s sensitive data or critical devices.

And after all the effort of designing, building, debugging, and deploying their applications, the last thing they want is for an attacker to steal their work or use it to look for vulnerabilities to break into their system.

Long ago, we built a Java code optimizer, but it became clear to us that our customer cared more about the obfuscation effects of the optimization than the actual performance improvement. That is when we really began to focus on app protection. First with Java, then .NET, Android, iOS, Xamarin, JavaScript, etc.

Gartner calls In-App Protection “crucial” in their July 2019 Market Guide for In-App Protection In-App Protection. The guide’s summary advises security and risk management leaders to “take due care in protecting their application clients” in order to avoid “security failure.”

This raises the question – what constitutes “due care?” Obviously, no development organization looks to recklessly expose their applications or sensitive data to attack or compromise. On the other hand, over-engineered (or poorly engineered) security controls can quickly lead to excessive development costs, performance and quality issues, and, ultimately, unacceptable user experiences. While terms and terminology may vary, there is broad consensus on how to best define “due care” for any given application/user scenario.

If you don’t follow application security closely, you might think of application obfuscation and symbol renaming as being synonymous – and with good reason. Many platforms and languages, like .NET, Java, and JavaScript have popular obfuscators that do little else--our own Dotfuscator Community Edition for .NET and ProGuard for Java are good examples. However, obfuscation is far more than symbol renaming – and in-app protection is far more than obfuscation. Much of this expansion has been driven by new security requirements, shifting attack vectors, the rise of mobile and IoT computing and, lastly, the growing recognition inside regulations and legislation of the exposure that can result from inadequately protected software.

PreEmptive has partnered with Microsoft for 16 years and we’ve been involved with .NET since before version 1.0 shipped. From that perspective, it’s hard for us to pinpoint a time where the energy and enthusiasm in the .NET community has been higher than it is now. Over the past few years, Microsoft has put together the annual .NET Conf, completely online with viewers, participants, and local events all over the world. The event is virtual and streamed live over three days.

The big news at this year's .NET Conf was the launch of .NET Core 3, the next step in the continued evolution of .NET. .NET Core 3 is a huge effort, with many moving parts, and Microsoft announced many related releases to support it. Highlights for us included:

Automating Xamarin Protection with Dotfuscator

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Gabriel, you have been in the security industry for over 2 decades. You have seen many different tools and services. Why create a company around something as specific as obfuscation and in-app protection?

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