Learn to Detect VPN in Mobile apps, in mobile CI/CD with a Data-Driven DevSecOps™ build system.
What Is the Mobile VPN Detection Feature?
The Detect VPN feature is designed to detect the activation of a VPN (Virtual Private Network) on mobile devices. Once the VPN is detected, Appdome allows the blocking of network connections from the app. Its primary function is to monitor and identify whether a VPN connection is currently active on a user’s mobile device while using the protected app. When a VPN is enabled, it routes traffic through an untrusted server, which allows attackers to potentially bypass security measures put in place by the app provider. The Detect VPN feature allows Appdome customers to ensure that end users are not utilizing a VPN while accessing their app, thereby enforcing their network policies and security measures. The significance of this capability rests in its ability to maintain the integrity of the app provider’s ecosystem. By preventing users from accessing the app with an active VPN, companies can safeguard their content, maintain control over the user experience, and ensure that their data and services are accessed securely and in compliance with their policies.
Why VPN Detection is Crucial for Mobile App Security and Compliance?
Companies that provide mobile apps have a vested interest in maintaining control over the access and security of their services. The implementation of a VPN detection feature within their apps serves a crucial purpose: it helps companies ensure that their end users are not utilizing a VPN while interacting with their mobile apps. The primary motivation behind this is to uphold content restrictions, security measures, and compliance requirements set forth by the company. By disallowing VPN use during app sessions, companies can mitigate potential risks associated with circumventing their security protocols or accessing restricted content through VPNs.
Furthermore, this feature enables companies to maintain a consistent user experience, reduce the likelihood of unauthorized access to their services, and protect sensitive data from potential security threats. It serves as a valuable tool for upholding corporate policies, protecting intellectual property, and ensuring that end users interact with their apps in a secure and controlled environment.
Prerequisites for Using Detect VPN:
To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect VPN , you’ll need:
- Appdome account (create a free Appdome account here)
- A license for Detect VPN
- Mobile App (.ipa for iOS, or .apk or .aab for Android)
- Signing Credentials (see Signing Secure Android apps and Signing Secure iOS apps)
Detect VPN on Mobile apps using Appdome
On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Mobile Apps that Detect VPN without an SDK or gateway:
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Upload the Mobile App to Appdome.
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Upload an app to Appdome’s Mobile App Security Build System
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Upload Method: Appdome Console or DEV-API
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Mobile App Formats: .ipa for iOS, or .apk or .aab for Android
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Detect VPN Compatible With: Obj-C, C+, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more
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Build the feature: Detect VPN.
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Building Detect VPN by using Appdome’s DEV-API:
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Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Detect VPN feature as shown below:
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Follow the steps in Sections 2.2.1-2.2.2 of this article, Building the Detect VPN feature via Appdome Console, to add the Detect VPN feature to this Fusion Set.
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Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set, as shown in Figure 1 above, and get the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below):
Figure 2: Fusion Set Detail Summary
Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory). -
Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, App Center, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Cirlce CI or other system:
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Build an API for the app – for instructions, see the tasks under Appdome API Reference Guide
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Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository
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Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Detect VPN feature
Note: Naming the Fusion Set to correspond to the protection(s) selected is for illustration purposes only (not required). -
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Building the Detect VPN feature via Appdome Console
To build the Detect VPN protection by using Appdome Console, follow the instructions below.
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Where: Inside the Appdome Console, go to Build > Geo Compliance Tab > Geo Compliance section
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How: Toggle (turn ON) Detect VPN, as shown below.
If needed, Customize the Threat Notification to be displayed to the mobile end-user in a standard OS dialog notification when Appdome Detects VPN.Figure 3: Detect VPN option
Note: The App Compromise Notification contains an easy to follow default remediation path for the mobile app end user. You can customize this message as required to achieve brand specific support, workflow or other messaging. -
When you select the Detect VPN you'll notice that your Fusion Set you created in step 2.1.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Detect VPN
Figure 4: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Detect VPN protection
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Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Detect VPN:
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Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense
If the Threat-Events™ setting is cleared (not selected). Appdome will detect and defend the user and app by enforcing Detect VPN.
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Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection
When this setting is used, Appdome detects the presence of VPN and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing, enforcement, and user notification. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Detect VPN Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.
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Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense
When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against VPN (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence the app’s business logic for processing. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Detect VPN Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.
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Click Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 3).
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Congratulations! The Detect VPN protection is now added to the mobile app
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Certify the Detect VPN feature in Mobile Apps.
After building Detect VPN, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Detect VPN protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Detect VPN protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below:
Figure 5: Certified Secure™ certificate
Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Detect VPN has been added to each Mobile app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Detect VPN and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app
Using Threat-Events™ for VPN Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps
Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when VPN is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for VPN in Mobile Apps, use AddObserverForName in Notification Center, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for VPN shown below.
The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for VPN are:
| Threat-Event™ Elements | Detect VPN Method Detail |
|---|---|
| Appdome Feature Name | Detect VPN |
| Threat-Event Mode | |
| OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE | Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging. |
| ON, IN-APP DETECTION | Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce). |
| ON, IN-APP DEFENSE | Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection). |
| Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check | |
| Visible in ThreatScope™ | |
| Developer Parameters for Detecting VPN Threat-Event™ | |
| Threat-Event NAME | ActiveVpnDetected |
| Threat-Event DATA | reasonData |
| Threat-Event CODE | reasonCode |
| Threat-Event REF | 6801 |
| Threat-Event SCORE | |
| currentThreatEventScore | Current Threat-Event score |
| threatEventsScore | Total Threat-events score |
| Threat-Event Context Keys | |
|---|---|
| message | Message displayed for the user on event |
| externalID | The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events |
| osVersion | OS version of the current device |
| deviceModel | Current device model |
| deviceManufacturer | The manufacturer of the current device |
| fusedAppToken | The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app |
| kernelInfo | Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine. |
| carrierPlmn | PLMN of the device |
| deviceID | Current device ID |
| reasonCode | Reason code of the occured event |
| buildDate | Appdome fusion date of the current application |
| devicePlatform | OS name of the current device |
| carrierName | Carrier name of the current device |
| updatedOSVersion | Is the OS version up to date |
| deviceBrand | Brand of the device |
| deviceBoard | Board of the device |
| buildUser | Build user |
| buildHost | Build host |
| sdkVersion | Sdk version |
| timeZone | Time zone |
| deviceFaceDown | Is the device face down |
| locationLong | Location long |
| locationLat | Location lat |
| locationState | Location state |
| wifiSsid | Wifi SSID |
| wifiSsidPermissionStatus | Wifi SSID permission status |
With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Mobile developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Mobile applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when VPN is detected.
The following is a code sample for native Mobile apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Detect VPN:
Java
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1
22
1
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1
IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter();2
intentFilter.addAction("ActiveVpnDetected");3
BroadcastReceiver threatEventReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {4
@Override5
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {6
String message = intent.getStringExtra("message"); // Message shown to the user7
String reasonData = intent.getStringExtra("reasonData"); // Threat detection cause8
String reasonCode = intent.getStringExtra("reasonCode"); // Event reason code9
String currentThreatEventScore = intent.getStringExtra("currentThreatEventScore"); // Current threat event score10
String threatEventsScore = intent.getStringExtra("threatEventsScore"); // Total threat events score11
String variable = intent.getStringExtra("<Context Key>"); // Any other event specific context key12
​13
// Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)14
}15
};16
​17
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.TIRAMISU) {18
registerReceiver(threatEventReceiver, intentFilter, Context.RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED);19
} else {20
registerReceiver(threatEventReceiver, intentFilter);21
}Kotlin
x
1
20
1
val intentFilter = IntentFilter()2
intentFilter.addAction("ActiveVpnDetected")3
val threatEventReceiver = object : BroadcastReceiver() {4
override fun onReceive(context: Context?, intent: Intent?) {5
var message = intent?.getStringExtra("message") // Message shown to the user6
var reasonData = intent?.getStringExtra("reasonData") // Threat detection cause7
var reasonCode = intent?.getStringExtra("reasonCode") // Event reason code8
var currentThreatEventScore = intent?.getStringExtra("currentThreatEventScore") // Current threat event score9
var threatEventsScore = intent?.getStringExtra("threatEventsScore") // Total threat events score10
var variable = intent?.getStringExtra("<Context Key>") // Any other event specific context key11
​12
// Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)13
}14
}15
​16
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.TIRAMISU) {17
registerReceiver(threatEventReceiver, intentFilter, Context.RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED)18
} else {19
registerReceiver(threatEventReceiver, intentFilter)20
}Swift
x
15
15
1
let center = NotificationCenter.default 2
center.addObserver(forName: Notification.Name("ActiveVpnDetected"), object: nil, queue: nil) { (note) in 3
guard let usrInf = note.userInfo else { 4
return 5
} 6
7
let message = usrInf["message"]; // Message shown to the user 8
let reasonData = usrInf["reasonData"]; // Threat detection cause 9
let reasonCode = usrInf["reasonCode"]; // Event reason code 10
let currentThreatEventScore = usrInf["currentThreatEventScore"]; // Current threat event score 11
let threatEventsScore = usrInf["threatEventsScore"]; // Total threat events score 12
let variable = usrInf["<Context Key>"]; // Any other event specific context key 13
14
// Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...) 15
} Objective-C
x
14
14
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserverForName: @"ActiveVpnDetected" object:nil queue:nil usingBlock:^(NSNotification *org_note) { 2
__block NSNotification *note = org_note; 3
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^(void) { 4
NSString *message = [[note userInfo] objectForKey:@"message"]; // Message shown to the user 5
NSString *reasonData = [[note userInfo] objectForKey:@"reasonData"]; // Threat detection cause 6
NSString *reasonCode = [[note userInfo] objectForKey:@"reasonCode"]; // Event reason code 7
NSString *currentThreatEventScore = [[note userInfo] objectForKey:@"currentThreatEventScore"]; // Current threat event score 8
NSString *threatEventsScore = [[note userInfo] objectForKey:@"threatEventsScore"]; // Total threat events score 9
NSString *variable = [[note userInfo] objectForKey:@"<Context Key>"]; // Any other event specific context key 10
11
// Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...) 12
}); 13
}]; React Native
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24
1
const { ADDevEvents } = NativeModules; 2
const aDDevEvents = new NativeEventEmitter(ADDevEvents); 3
4
function registerToDevEvent(action, callback) { 5
NativeModules.ADDevEvents.registerForDevEvent(action); 6
aDDevEvents.addListener(action, callback); 7
} 8
9
export function registerToAllEvents() { 10
registerToDevEvent( 11
"ActiveVpnDetected", 12
(userinfo) => Alert.alert(JSON.stringify(userinfo)) 13
14
var message = userinfo["message"] // Message shown to the user 15
var reasonData = userinfo["reasonData"] // Threat detection cause 16
var reasonCode = userinfo["reasonCode"] // Event reason code 17
var currentThreatEventScore = userinfo["currentThreatEventScore"] // Current threat event score 18
var threatEventsScore = userinfo["threatEventsScore"] // Total threat events score 19
var variable = userinfo["<Context Key>"] // Any other event specific context key 20
21
// Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...) 22
); 23
} 24
Xamarin/MAUI Android
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1
RegisterReceiver(new ThreatEventReceiver(), new IntentFilter("ActiveVpnDetected")); 2
3
class ThreatEventReceiver : BroadcastReceiver 4
{ 5
public override void OnReceive(Context context, Intent intent) 6
{ 7
String message = intent.getStringExtra("message"); // Message shown to the user 8
String reasonData = intent.getStringExtra("reasonData"); // Threat detection cause 9
String reasonCode = intent.getStringExtra("reasonCode"); // Event reason code 10
String currentThreatEventScore = intent.getStringExtra("currentThreatEventScore"); // Current threat event score 11
String threatEventsScore = intent.getStringExtra("threatEventsScore"); // Total threat events score 12
String variable = intent.getStringExtra("<Context Key>"); // Any other event specific context key 13
14
// Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...) 15
} 16
} Xamarin/MAUI iOS
12
1
NSNotificationCenter.DefaultCenter.AddObserver( 2
(NSString)"ActiveVpnDetected", // Threat-Event Identifier 3
delegate (NSNotification notification) 4
{ 5
var message = notification.UserInfo.ObjectForKey("message"); // Message shown to the user 6
var reasonData = notification.UserInfo.ObjectForKey("reasonData"); // Threat detection cause 7
var reasonCode = notification.UserInfo.ObjectForKey("reasonCode"); // Event reason code 8
var currentThreatEventScore = notification.UserInfo.ObjectForKey("currentThreatEventScore"); // Current threat event score 9
var threatEventsScore = notification.UserInfo.ObjectForKey("threatEventsScore"); // Total threat events score 10
var variable = notification.UserInfo.ObjectForKey("<Context Keys>"); // Any other event specific context key 11
// Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...) 12
}); Cordova
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10
1
window.broadcaster.addEventListener("ActiveVpnDetected", function(userInfo) { 2
var message = userInfo.message // Message shown to the user 3
var reasonData = userInfo.reasonData // Threat detection cause 4
var reasonCode = userInfo.reasonCode // Event reason code 5
var currentThreatEventScore = userInfo.currentThreatEventScore // Current threat event score 6
var threatEventsScore = userInfo.threatEventsScore // Total threat events score 7
var variable = userInfo.<Context Key> // Any other event specific context key 8
9
// Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...) 10
}); Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Mobile Apps by using Detect VPN. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.
Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Detect VPN
After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:
- Deploying/Publishing Secure mobile apps to Public or Private app stores
- built on Appdome.
Related Articles:
If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.
Thank you!
Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.
