iXGuard 4.0 released

 Update: Learn more about the latest version of iXGuard. Read more about it here.

Today Guardsquare released updates to iXGuard, our advanced solution for hardening iOS applications. This release introduces code tracing detection, encryption of assets and resources as well as multiple enhancements to iXGuard’s existing security features.

iXGuard 4.0 includes the following new features:

Code tracing detection

Code tracing is a powerful method for analyzing and modifying mobile applications during program execution. It enables inspection at the instruction level and leverages dynamic recompilation to patch the original machine code at runtime, giving reverse engineers unprecedented control. Learn more about code tracing >

iXGuard’s newly added runtime application self-protection (RASP) functionality detects and prevents code tracing attempts with dynamic binary instrumentation tools.

Asset and resource encryption

iXGuard now provides universal encryption for all files included in the application package (IPA) besides the executable code, such as UI-related resources, various PLIST (property list) files and other assets.

The addition of universal asset and resource encryption reinforces iXGuard’s code hardening capabilities. It prevents malicious actors from accessing and extracting or tampering with asset and resource files.

Improved security techniques

Guardsquare continuously improves its security techniques to ensure its customers are protected against emerging threats and attack vectors.

iXGuard 4.0 includes the following enhancement to its RASP functionality:

• System library in-memory integrity checking prevents attempts to modify the intended behavior of applications by hooking system library functions. This enhancement of iXGuard’s hook detection is framework-agnostic, which makes it effective against a wide range of attacks. 

It also provides improvements to existing code hardening techniques:

• Additional control flow obfuscation methods extend and improve the existing implementation to provide additional code protection.
• Decreased data encryption size impact. iXGuard now batch processes data strings to reduce the impact of data encryption and call hiding on app size.

Compatibility updates

iXGuard 4.0 supports the latest versions of Xcode (11.5) and Swift (5.2).