Preface

This book introduces the Security Enhancements (SE) for Android open source project and walks you through the process of securing new embedded systems with SE for Android. To our knowledge, this book is the first source to document such a process in its entirety so that students, DIY hobbyists, and engineers can create custom systems secured by SE for Android. Generally, only original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) do this, and quite commonly, the target device is a phone or tablet. We truly hope our book will change that, engaging a wide audience in development so they can use and understand these modern security tools.

We worked very hard to ensure this text is not just a step-by-step technology book. Specifically, we've chosen a model that directs you to fail your way to success. You will first gain appropriate theoretical understanding of how security is gained and enforced. Then we will introduce a system that has never been secured that way (not even by us, prior to writing this book). Next, we'll guide you through all our intelligent guesswork, embracing unexpected failures for the newly found idiosyncrasies they expose, and eventually enforcing our custom security policies. It requires you to learn to resolve differences between major open source projects such as SELinux, SE for Android, and Google Android, each of which has independent goals and deployment schedules. This prepares you to secure other devices, the process for which is always different, but hopefully, will now be more accessible.