The mobile environment

Android is an operating system (OS) created for intelligent mobile devices with a touchscreen, such as smartphones or tablets. Knowing the features of a device is important to identify the vulnerabilities that can potentially compromise the integrity, confidentiality, or availability of your application (app).

A smartphone is a connected device and so malicious software can infect it in several ways. The smartphone can communicate with different devices by a wireless or wired connection. For example, it can connect to a computer by a cable or it can connect to another mobile device by a wireless Bluetooth network. These communications allow the user to transfer data, files, or software, which is a possible path to infect the smartphone with malware.

A smartphone is also a connected device in the sense that it can connect to the Internet by cellular networks like 3G or access points via Wi-Fi. Internet is therefore another path of potential threats to the security of...