Introduction 

MAF 2.1.3 provides a tighter integration with Oracle Mobile Security Suite (OMSS) 11.1.2.3.1.This integration offers capabilities like, Android Containerization, Data Leak Protection, Data Encryption, Application Tunneling, Container Authentication and Single Sign-On. Features like Containerization, Data Leak Protection and Data Encryption are already supported on iOS from previous MAF releases.

New Features

1. Support for Android Containerization

Mobile app containerization allows customers to add a standardized security layer to native mobile apps. 

The containerization process is simple, and developers do not need to change a line of code. MAF developers just need to deploy the application to OMSS, in JDeveloper or Eclipse. During the deployment, the app is first compiled and an unsigned version of the app is generated that is intended to be signed with an enterprise distribution certificate for distribution within the company. After deployment, a wrapped APK file is generated which is signed with the signing certificates which are configured in the MAF JDeveloper / Eclipse Preferences, in the Android platform section.


Enable OMSS deployment in JDeveloper 

Enable OMSS deployment in Eclipse 


2. Data Leak Protection on Android

Once a MAF app is containerized with OMSS, IT administrators can apply various data leak protection policies and restrict how and if users can share data within the app

  • Email allowed can restrict the ability to send email from an app.

  • Instant Message allowed can restrict the ability to send Instant Message from an app.

  • Video chat allowed restricts the ability to share information via services such as FaceTime.

  • Social Share allowed restricts the ability to share information via services such as Facebook or Twitter.

  • Print allowed restricts the ability of the user to print.

  • Restrict file sharing restricts the ability of the user to share files outside the secure enterprise workspace.

  • Restrict copy/paste allows copy/paste inside the secure container, containerized apps or between containerized apps, but not to apps outside the secure enterprise workspace.

  • Redirects to container allowed prevents any app outside the Mobile Security Container workspace from redirecting a URL into the container.

  • Save to media gallery allowed prevents images, videos and audio files from being saved to media gallery and photo stores.

  • Save to local contacts allowed prevents contacts inside secure enterprise workspace apps from being saved down to native device contacts app.

  • Redirects from container allowed prevents any vApp from the Mobile Security Container workspace or containerized app from redirecting a URL outside the Mobile Security Container workspace or containerized app.

3. Data Encryption on Android

OMSS Containerization provides the ability to encrypt the data stored offline within MAF android applications. Starting with 2.1.3 this functionality is available for MAF applications as well. Encrypted data storage includes application data, including files, databases, application cache, and user preferences. Developers can use MAF encryption with OMSS containerization without having to worry about double encryption. Within a containerized application, MAF frameworks delegates encryption to the container this ensures that there are no code changes needed based on whether an app is Containerized or not. 

4. Application Tunneling

MAF 2.1.3 release provides support for application tunneling through Oracle Mobile Security Suite on both Android & iOS. Application tunneling provides a secure way to access the corporate resources behind the firewall, within a mobile client, without the need of device level VPN. Tunneling functionality allows administrators to intercept, and manage, all the requests coming from a specific MAF application. Administrators can configure the requests coming from a specific URL to go through a proxy on MSAS server. They can also either completely block the requests, or redirect the requests directly to the internet.You can find more details on how to configure application tunneling in the Web Settings section of Administrative Console Guide for Oracle Mobile Security Suite.

5. Container Authentication & Single Sign-On

When Web SSO authentication type is used in MAF apps with Oracle Access Manager and Oracle WebGate used in the back-end for authentication, the end user is not challenged for credentials in the application after Container authentication. The user identity from the Container is propagated to the App and the back-end services. SSO across multiple apps in the Container is also supported, i.e. user can login once to the Container and access all the apps in the Container with out additional authentication challenges. 

Demo

Here is a quick demo which shows all three features (Android Containerization, Data Leak Protection, and File Encryption)