Read about mobile application security testing with MobSF here: Mobile Application Penetration Testing with MobSF
What are Beacons?
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Beacons are a small transmitter that Emits Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).It transmits a signal which can be used to communicate with other devices. It works with Bluetooth activated devices and they should be within the range.
Types of Beacon:
1. Eddystone:-It is a BLE devices developed by Google to communicate with smartphone, Tablets, and other IoT based devices
2. iBeacon:-It is a BLE device developed by Apple to communicate with smartphone, Tablets and other IOT based devices
How does beacon work’s with other Devices and IoT
Eddystone used the following to communicate:-
1. Eddystone-UID: An opaque unique ID.
2. Eddystone-URL: A compressed URL that, once parsed and decompressed, is directly usable by the client.
3. Eddystone-TLM: A block of telemetry information containing beacon status and runtime values.
iBeacon uses the following to communicate:-
1. UUID: B9407F30-F5F8-466E-AFF9-25556B57FE6D it is a Unique Identifier
2. Major ID: 1
3. Minor ID: 2
Use case of Beacon based application
Suppose you are a customer of one of the reputed 5 Hotel star hotel.
How you will feel when someone greets you at the reception with your name without asking your name on arrival.
You are being virtually assisted in your room without an attendant.
You are near a Bar and get a notification to visit there with a 25% discount especially for you
You are not sure which is the nearest pool to go for but get a prompt reply from the admin team about it
To provide all these services we can use Beacons based applications on Android and iOS devices.
Suppose we have been provided with the application by developers we need to take care of the following Test cases:
1. The application should work with all supported devices
2.Apk and.Ipa file should successfully be installed on every device
3. Verify that when the customer enters within the hotel range then Front desk should get a message With the name and estimated time of arrival
4. When the customer opens the application to see in house map of the hotel he should clearly see it in order to route to the room
5. When the customer is near a Pub or Bar he should get notified about the deal of 25% of especially for him.
6. When the customer searches for the nearest swimming pool he should be routed to the correct area
7. Verify that if customer moves out of the BLE range then he should not be able to use the service since he is not in range
8. Verify the minimum distance is correct when we are in the hotel area I.e. the distance supported by beacon
9. The data shown by the iOS and Android devices should be accurate.
10. Does it show the relevant result on low data I.e 2g and 3g
11. Verify if we use the same Application in a different branch of the hotel then it should not work
Beacons drain the battery of the device fast and some time is not too accurate
