>From a security standpoint, what you're describing is a sandbox,
which, done properly, can certainly help with security.
However, you're also describing a complete app rewrite to create the
stumble-able edition of the app. The odds of your convincing
developers to rewrite their app to support your service will be
dependent upon your ability to deliver results. Since your audience
size is dependent upon your ability to deliver apps, you are in a
chicken-and-egg situation that usually requires venture capital to
resolve.
Combine that with Mr. Micinski's recent reply (as he seems to be
writing the same time I am...), and I hope you have a decent-sized
team as well.
If I were you, I'd go a different route. For example, go with a mobile
edition of the Amazon AppStore preview model. AFAIK, they're using
android-x86 instances hosted in their cloud, where they cooked up a
Flash RDP(?) client to connect to those from the browser. You could do
something along those lines, using RDP or VNC in your stumbling app to
peek into the virtualized device running the app in question. Same
zero-install experience, but now your infrastructure is in the cloud,
which you can mock up on home equipment temporarily. You eliminate the
security issues, you eliminate the need for developers to rebuild
their apps to fit your model, etc.
(figuring out the stack for doing this sort of preview is on my
18,000-item to-do list, though I probably would be aiming to replicate
the Web-based client)
On Sun, Dec 4, 2011 at 5:47 PM, klewelling <klewell...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I don't completely follow your description, sorry. You're using too
>> many terms ("the app", "host APK", "UI APK", "dynamic apps") that you
>> know how they relate, but I don't. Perhaps I'm just being thick.
>
> Ya what I wrote was a bit stream-of-consciousness. Let me try again.
>
> Here is my suggestion for a more secure model. The stumbleUpon like
> service involves installing two apks, a UI apk and a Host apk. The UI
> apk has a lot of permissions including access to the internet and has
> a "Next App" button. A second host apk has a limited set of
> permissions, basically no direct access to the network, SMS, or
> personally identifying information. When the user want to "stumble"
> onto a new app they click the "Next App" button and the UI app
> downloads the trial app which is then transferred to the host app via
> a Service. The host app then loads the trial app. When/if the trial
> app needs a resource the host does not have (SMS, network, contacts,
> etc) it will ask the UI apk which does have the permissions (assume
> the trial app uses a different API to make its requests). The UI app
> receives the requests and asks the user via a dialog if it is OK to
> allow the trial app access to the requested resource. For example the
> UI app may pop up a dialog and say "App xyz wants to send a text
> message. OK or Cancel". If the app does not request access from the UI
> app and instead tries to directly access a resource the android
> security model will kick it and throw an exception. I know there are
> performance and usability issues with what I described, but from a
> security point of view what are your thoughts?
>
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