Adversaries may track a device’s physical location through use of standard operating system APIs via malicious or exploited applications on the compromised device. On Android, applications holding the `ACCESS_COAURSE_LOCATION` or `ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION` permissions provide access to the device’s physical location. On Android 10 and up, declaration of the `ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION` permission in an application’s manifest will allow applications to request location access even when the application is running in the background.(Citation: Android Request Location Permissions) Some adversaries have utilized integration of Baidu map services to retrieve geographical location once the location access permissions had been obtained.(Citation: PaloAlto-SpyDealer)(Citation: Palo Alto HenBox) On iOS, applications must include the `NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription`, `NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription`, and/or `NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription` keys in their `Info.plist` file depending on the extent of requested access to location information.(Citation: Apple Requesting Authorization for Location Services) On iOS 8.0 and up, applications call `requestWhenInUseAuthorization()` to request access to location information when the application is in use or `requestAlwaysAuthorization()` to request access to location information regardless of whether the application is in use. With elevated privileges, an adversary may be able to access location data without explicit user consent with the `com.apple.locationd.preauthorized` entitlement key.(Citation: Google Project Zero Insomnia)
New mobile operating system versions bring not only patches against discovered vulnerabilities but also often bring security architecture improvements that provide resilience against potential vulnerabilities or weaknesses that have not yet been discovered. They may also bring improvements that block use of observed adversary techniques.
M1012Enterprise PolicyAn enterprise mobility management (EMM), also known as mobile device management (MDM), system can be used to provision policies to mobile devices to control aspects of their allowed behavior.
Describes any guidance or training given to users to set particular configuration settings or avoid specific potentially risky behaviors.
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