Mobisec

Reverse Engineering a mobile app is analysing the app (as obtained from app store) to extract information about its original string table, functions, control flow and source code. Generally binary inspection tools such as IDA Pro, Hopper, otool and strings are used for the purpose. As an example attack scenario, consider the attacker discovers jailbreak detection code in the app and uses this knowledge to disable jailbreak detection by modifying the mobile app binary.

Most mobile apps are susceptible to reverse engineering. Use of obfuscation tools to obfuscate the app code is an effective deterrence against reverse engineering. As part of security testing of mobile app, susceptibility to reverse engineering should be tested.