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BlackBerry updates Good SDKs for Android, iOS and Windows

Rapid John·
BlackBerryDevelopersSamsungGoogle
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BlackBerry has announced new releases of Good Dynamics SDKs for Android, iOS and Windows. The Good Dynamics Platform provides a range of SDKs and plugins, allowing developers to work in the environments with which they are familiar and build native, hybrid or web apps.

Once apps are built, developers can assume the role of IT admin to quickly validate the management and distribution of those apps through the Good Dynamics Platform.

The Good Dynamics Secure Mobility Platform provides key mobile backend as a service (MBaaS) capabilities needed for creating mobile apps for business environments. The result? Developers can focus on building engaging mobile apps without having to worry about security, server maintenance or complex infrastructure.

While building Good-secured apps, you need to ensure they work in Good environments. Set up the Good Dynamics Platform in the cloud or on premise and then assume the persona of an IT admin to test functionality such app provisioning, policies, groups, custom policies and more.

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What’s New

  • Public Key Cryptography support for Kerberos authentication (PKINIT)
  • Certificate Sharing on device
  • Swift 2.0 support
  • Android M suppor
  • Good Dynamics OS X SDK 1.0
  • Support for Android Fingerprint and Samsung Pass authentication
  • New Good Control security policies for fingerprint authentication
  • Xamarin and PhoneGap improvements

Public Key Cryptography support for Kerberos authentication (PKINIT)

PKINIT refers to an authentication mechanism for Kerberos which uses client certificates to authenticate the Good Dynamics(GD) client. PKINIT certificates can be automatically enrolled using a Certificate Authority (CA) server or uploaded in PKCS 12 format to the Good Control (GC). GD apps can take advantage of this authentication mechanism (i.e. no user action required) with a few conditions:

  • Available when the app is using HTTP/S protocol to access resources
  • Supported on Android and iOS platforms
  • Requires Kerberos Constrained Delegation (KCD) not to be enabled
  • Supports only Microsoft CA issued certificates at this time
  • Validated on Windows Server 2008 and 2012

Adding Support for Swift 2.0 Development on iOS

The followings are available for the Swift development:

  • Good Dynamics APIs in Swift
  • Good Dynamics Swift Template
  • Good Dynamics Swift documentation
  • Support for new Swift features like exceptions, nonull and null handling
  • Good Dynamics Swift sample code

For this release, authentication or redirects are not supported. These features are planned for a future release.

Android M Support

  • Ability to target Android M; Developers can build with target Android M
  • Support for new Android M permission model; Runtime model vs. Install model. GD apps require Android permission READ_PHONE_STATE will need to be granted access
  • Prevent Android M Auto-backup to Google Drive; Prevents the automatic backup of GD application data (ex. Startup file) to Google Drive. All GD files are encrypted with AES-256 which adds an additional level of security

Fingerprint Authentication

  • Support for Android M and Samsung Pass fingerprint authentication
  • Periodic password request (iOS and Android); Users would be forced to re-enter password at specific intervals when using fingerprint authentication. This feature can be managed by security policies from the GC
  • Fingerprint change detection (iOS and Android); If the device passcode or fingerprint detection is disabled and then re-enabled, the user is forced to enter the GD password to authenticate. This is to prevent a type of attack where an attacker gets possession of an unlocked device, turns off passcode, adds new fingertip and then proceed to use it to unlock a GD app. Additionally for added security when a fingerprint is added or removed or the user is also forced to enter the password to authenticate. This policy is always on thus additional policy setting is not required

GD OS X SDK 1.0

GD developers can build GD apps supporting the following GD functionalities on Mac OS X:

  • Policies management
  • Compliance enforcement
  • Secure storage
  • Secure communication
  • Kerberos support; this will allow web apps running in Good Access on Mac OS X to use Kerberos authentication to reach protected resources

Xamarin and Cordova(PhoneGap) development tools

Support has been added for the use of Xamarin to develop GD apps that are explicitly compiled for iOS 9/Xcode 7 SDK. Also GD PhoneGap plug-in, now supports all 5.x version of Cordova. The release for Xamarin and PhoneGap are scheduled shortly after the GD SDK release for Android, iOS and Windows.

Device Certificate Sharing

This feature allows GD applications on device to share client certificates. Currently, every GD app has to request and provision their own client certificate when needed, this new feature will allow GD applications to share client certificates and prevent multiple requests to the Certificate Authority(CA). Configuration is not required by IT Admins or developers to take advantage of this feature.  Certificate sharing is automatically enabled for the apps which an Admin has whitelisted in the Certificates > App Usage tab on Good Control.

Developers can downloads the sdks and find out more detailed information from the Good Developer Network.