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page.title=Security Enhancements in Android 7.0
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<p>Every Android release includes dozens of security enhancements to protect
users. Here are some of the major security enhancements available in Android
7.0:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>File-based encryption</strong>. Encrypting at the file level,
instead of encrypting the entire storage area as a single unit, better
isolates and protects individual users and profiles (such as personal and
work) on a device.</li>
<li><strong>Direct Boot</strong>. Enabled by file-based encryption, Direct
Boot allows certain apps such as alarm clock and accessibility features to
run when device is powered on but not unlocked.</li>
<li><strong>Verified Boot</strong>. Verified Boot is now strictly enforced to
prevent compromised devices from booting; it supports error correction to
improve reliability against non-malicious data corruption.</li>
<li><strong>SELinux</strong>. Updated SELinux configuration and increased
seccomp coverage further locks down the application sandbox and reduces attack
surface.</li>
<li><strong>Library load-order randomization and improved ASLR</strong>.
Increased randomness makes some code-reuse attacks less reliable.</li>
<li><strong>Kernel hardening</strong>. Added additional memory protection for
newer kernels by marking portions of kernel memory as read-only, restricting
kernel access to userspace addresses and further reducing the existing attack
surface.</li>
<li><strong>APK signature scheme v2</strong>. Introduced a whole-file signature
scheme that improves verification speed and strengthens integrity guarantees.</li>
<li><strong>Trusted CA store</strong>. To make it easier for apps to control
access to their secure network traffic, user-installed certificate authorities
and those installed through Device Admin APIs are no longer trusted by default
for apps targeting API Level 24+. Additionally, all new Android devices must
ship with the same trusted CA store.</li>
<li><strong>Network Security Config</strong>. Configure network security and TLS
through a declarative configuration file.</li>
</ul>