Mobile Hacking Course

Lesson 1 • Legal and Ethical Frameworks

Defines authorised testing boundaries, responsible disclosure norms, and professional ethics. Students learn to operate within scope agreements and bug bounty rules.

Lesson 2 • Mobile Threat Landscape

Surveys real-world mobile attack categories, threat actors, and historical incidents. Contextualises why each attack class matters in professional assessments.

Lesson 3 • Setting Up a Mobile Lab Environment

Guides students through building isolated test environments with emulators and physical devices. A working lab is required for all hands-on exercises in later chapters.

Lesson 1 • APK and IPA Acquisition

Covers methods for obtaining application binaries from stores, devices, and backup files. Binary access is the prerequisite for all static and dynamic analysis tasks.

Lesson 2 • Network Endpoint Discovery

Identifies backend API hosts, CDN endpoints, and third-party services contacted by the app. Endpoint maps feed directly into network and API attack phases.

Lesson 3 • Static Manifest and Metadata Analysis

Examines AndroidManifest.xml, Info.plist, and embedded metadata for misconfigurations. Findings here guide prioritisation of deeper code and runtime analysis.

Lesson 1 • Android Reverse Engineering

Decompiles APKs to Smali and Java using industry tools to expose logic and secrets. Builds the skill set required for dynamic instrumentation in the next chapter.

Lesson 2 • iOS Binary Reverse Engineering

Analyses Mach-O binaries using disassemblers and class-dump tools to recover Objective-C and Swift logic. Complements Android skills for cross-platform assessments.

Lesson 3 • Insecure Data Storage Identification

Locates credentials, tokens, and PII stored insecurely in files, databases, and shared preferences. Directly maps to high-severity findings in professional reports.

Lesson 4 • Code-Level Vulnerability Patterns

Teaches recognition of injection sinks, weak cryptography, and unsafe deserialisation in mobile code. Pattern recognition accelerates manual review and tool-assisted scanning.

Lesson 1 • Objection Framework for Rapid Testing

Uses Objection to automate common dynamic tasks without writing custom Frida scripts. Accelerates assessment workflows when time constraints limit manual scripting.

Lesson 2 • Frida Instrumentation Fundamentals

Introduces Frida's architecture, agent scripting, and injection modes for Android and iOS. Frida is the primary runtime tool used throughout all dynamic analysis exercises.

Lesson 3 • Runtime Data Extraction

Captures decrypted data, session tokens, and cryptographic keys from app memory at runtime. Extracted artefacts feed directly into authentication and API attack phases.

Lesson 4 • Root and Jailbreak Detection Bypass

Identifies and defeats integrity checks that block testing on rooted or jailbroken devices. Enables full dynamic analysis on apps with anti-tampering defences.

Lesson 1 • Insecure Communication Identification

Detects cleartext transmission, weak TLS configurations, and mixed-content issues in app traffic. Directly produces reportable findings aligned with mobile security standards.

Lesson 2 • Proxy Setup and Traffic Capture

Configures Burp Suite and mitmproxy as transparent proxies for mobile devices. Proper proxy setup is the prerequisite for all traffic-based vulnerability testing.

Lesson 3 • API Vulnerability Testing

Tests intercepted API endpoints for authentication flaws, authorisation gaps, and injection issues. Findings here typically yield the highest-severity vulnerabilities in assessments.

Lesson 1 • Broken Access Control Exploitation

Demonstrates horizontal and vertical privilege escalation through API and component-level flaws. Builds on API testing skills from the network interception chapter.

Lesson 2 • Mobile Authentication Mechanisms

Surveys OAuth 2.0, biometric, OTP, and deep-link authentication flows used in mobile apps. An understanding of legitimate flows is required before identifying their weaknesses.

Lesson 3 • Token and Session Attacks

Targets JWT weaknesses, token leakage, and session fixation vulnerabilities in mobile contexts. Successful exploitation leads to persistent unauthorised account access.

Lesson 1 • Android IPC and Component Attacks

Abuses exported activities, services, broadcast receivers, and content providers via crafted intents. Requires manifest analysis skills developed in the static analysis chapter.

Lesson 2 • iOS-Specific Attack Vectors

Exploits iOS pasteboard leakage, URL scheme hijacking, and extension attack surfaces. Covers platform behaviours that differ fundamentally from Android equivalents.

Lesson 3 • WebView Vulnerability Exploitation

Targets JavaScript interface exposure, file access, and XSS within embedded WebViews. WebView flaws frequently bridge web and native attack surfaces in hybrid apps.

Lesson 4 • Tapjacking and UI Redressing

Demonstrates overlay attacks that trick users into performing unintended actions in target apps. Illustrates how UI-layer attacks complement code-level exploitation techniques.

Lesson 1 • Executive Summary and Report Structure

Builds a complete assessment report with executive summary, methodology, and appendices. Teaches adaptation of technical depth to different reader audiences.

Lesson 2 • Retesting and Remediation Verification

Defines a structured retest process to confirm that reported vulnerabilities have been fixed. Closes the assessment lifecycle and validates developer remediation efforts.

Lesson 3 • Vulnerability Classification and Scoring

Applies CVSS and mobile-specific risk frameworks to rate and prioritise discovered vulnerabilities. Consistent scoring ensures findings are comparable across engagements and clients.

Lesson 4 • Remediation Guidance Best Practices

Provides developers with specific, implementable fixes for each vulnerability class identified. Actionable guidance increases the likelihood that findings are resolved promptly.