IT ESSENTIALS

Final Exam Preparation Paper

Chapter 12: Mobile, Linux and macOS Operating Systems

Android vs iOS

The two most commonly used mobile OSs are Android and iOS. Android is developed by
Google, iOS - by Apple.

Before users can analyze and modify the software, they must be able to see the source code.
Source code is the set of instructions written in human-readable language before it’s converted
into machine language, which is a string of 1s and 0s.

When the developer chooses to provide the source code, the software is considered open
source. Otherwise, the program is considered closed source.

Android is open source, released in 2008, Linux based, developed by Open Handset Alliance.
iOS is closed source, released in 2007, Unix based, developed by Apple.
Microsoft also created a version of Windows for mobile devices, closed source.

Apps are the programs executed on mobile devices. Mobile devices come with a number of
apps pre-installed to provide basic functionality.

iOS apps are available from the Apple App store. Apple uses a walled garden model for their
apps, meaning all apps must be submitted and approved by Apple before they’re released to
users. Third-party developers can create apps for iOS using Apple’s Software Development Kit
(SDK) Xcode and Swift programming language.

Android apps are available from both Google PlayTM and third party sites, such as Amazon’s
app store. Android apps run in a sandbox and have only privileges enabled by the user. Third-
party programs are installed directly using Android Application Package (apk) files. This is
known as sideloading.
Android Touch Interface

• Organize app icons and widgets on multiple screens

• One screen is designated as the Home screen, the rest are accessed by swiping right or left
• The screen indicator displays which screen is currently active
• Uses system bar to navigate apps and screens
• Back - returns to previous screen
• Home - return to home screen
• Recent apps - thumbnail images of recent apps
• Menu - additional options for the current screen
• Notification panel with quick actions

iOS Touch Interface

• No navigation icons
• No widgets (iOS 14 duh)
• No app shortcuts
• Home button to wake the device, return to home screen, Siri
• Notification Center
• Control center
• iOS Spotlight search

Common Mobile Device Features

A sensor inside the device called the accelerometer detects how the device is being held and
adjusts the screen accordingly (portrait or landscape). Some devices also have gyroscopes,
which allow the device to be used as a control mechanism for driving games where the device
itself functions as a steering wheel.

The LCD screen for most devices consumes most battery life. Therefore, lowering the screen
brightness will save power.

GPS is a navigation system that determines the location and time of the device by using
messages from satellites in space and a receiver on Earth. GPS is very accurate (uses at least 4
satellites) and can be used under most weather conditions, however, dense foliage, tunnels and
tall buildings can interrupt satellite signals.

Indoor Positioning System (IPS) can determine device location by triangulating its proximity to
other radio signals such as Wi-Fi access points.
Geotracking is when app vendors and websites know the location of a device and offer location-
specific services.

Instead of using cellular network, modern smartphones can use the Internet to transport calls by
taking advantage of a local Wi-Fi hotspot. This is called Wi-Fi calling. Wi-Fi calling is very useful
in areas with poor cellular coverage because it uses a local Wi-Fi hotspot to fill the gaps.

Mobile payments are any types of payments made through a mobile phone.

Types:
• Premium SMS based transactional payments - customers send an SMS to a carrier’s phone
number containing a payment request. The charge is then added to customer’s phone bill
(slow speed, poor reliability, poor security)
• Direct mobile billing - a user identifies their self and allows the charge to be added to the
mobile service bill (security, convenience)
• Mobile web payments - relies on Wireless Action Protocol (WAP), requires use of credit cards
or systems like PayPal
• Contactless NFC - mostly in physical transactions, waving the phone near the payment
system

Mobile devices also support VPN.

A digital assistant aka virtual assistant, is a program that can understand natural conversational
language and perform tasks for the end user based on AI and machine learning. Some popular
digital assistants are:
• Google Now - Android
• Siri - iOS
• Cortana - Windows

Screen Locks and Biometric Authentication

In theory, a passcode could be guessed, given enough time and perseverance. To prevent
someone from guessing a passcode, mobile devices can be set to perform defined actions after
a certain number of incorrect attempts have been made.

On iOS, the password is used as part of the encryption key of the entire system. Because the
password isn’t stored anywhere, no one can gain access to device data, including Apple.

Cloud-Enabled Services for Mobile Devices

Data must be backed up periodically to ensure that it can be recovered if needed. With mobile
devices, storage is often limited and not removable.

A remote backup is when a device copies its data to cloud storage using a backup app. If data
needs to be restored, run the backup app and access the website to retrieve the data.

Most mobile operating systems come with a user account linked to the vendor’s cloud services,
such as iCloud for iOS, Google Sync for Android, and OneDrive for Microsoft. There are also
third-party backup providers, such as Dropbox, that can be used. Mobile devices can also be
backed up to a PC. Another option is to configure Mobile Device Management (MDM) software
to automatically backup user devices.

If a mobile device is misplaced or stolen, it is possible to find it using a locator app. A locator app
should be installed and configured on each mobile device before it is lost. Similar to Apple’s Find
My iPhone, Android Device Manager allows a user to locate, ring, or lock a lost Android device,
or to erase data from the device.

If the app is unable to locate the lost device, the device might be turned off or disconnected. The
device must be connected to a cellular or wireless network to receive commands from the app,
or to send location information to the user.

If, however, attempts to locate a mobile device have failed, there are other security features that
can prevent the data on the device from being compromised.

2 of the most common are:

• Remote Lock - lost mode for iOS, Lock for Android, allows you to lock the device with a
passcode
• Remote Wipe - erase phone for iOS, Erase for Android, deletes all data from a device
Full device encryption can prevent anyone in possession of the device from circumventing the
device’s access controls and the raw data stored in memory. Data protection is enabled
automatically when a passcode is set up.

Software Security

All computers are vulnerable to malicious software. Smartphones and other mobile devices are
computers and are also vulnerable.

Mobile device apps run in a sandbox. A sandbox is a location of the OS that keeps code isolated
from other resources and other code. It is difficult for malicious programs to infect a mobile
device because apps are run inside the sandbox.

A trusted app source is one that is authenticated and authorized by a service provider. The
service provider issues the developer a certificate to use to sign their apps and identify them as
trusted.

Due to the nature of the sandbox, malicious software does not usually damage mobile devices; it
is far more likely for a mobile device to transfer a malicious program to another device, such as a
laptop or desktop. For example, if a malicious program is downloaded from email, the Internet, or
another device, the malicious program could be placed on a laptop the next time it is connected
to the mobile device.

Firewall apps for mobile devices can Monitor app activity and prevent connections to specific
ports or IP addresses. Because mobile device firewall must be able to control other apps they
logically work at a higher (root) permission level.

Rooting (Android) and Jailbreaking (iOS) are two methods for removing restrictions and
protections added to mobile operating systems. They are a means of circumventing the usual
operating of the device operating system to gain super-user or root administrator permissions.
This voids the manufacturer's warranty.

When iOS vulnerabilities are fixed by updates, it forces hackers to start over. The jailbreak
process is completely reversible. To remove the jailbreak and bring the device back to its factory
state, connect it to iTunes and perform a Restore.

Patches can fix security problems or issues with hardware and software.

There are two other types of updates for mobile device radio firmware that are important. These
are called baseband updates and consist of the Preferred Roaming List (PRL) and the Primary
Rate ISDN (PRI). The PRL is configuration information that a cellular phone needs to
communicate on networks other than its own so that a call can be made outside of the carrier’s
network. The PRI configures the data rates between the device and the cell tower. This ensures
that the device is able to communicate with the tower at the correct rate.

Unix File and Directory Permissions

To organize the system and reinforce boundaries within the system, Unix uses file permissions.
File permissions are built into the file system structure and provide a mechanism to define
permissions to every file and directory. Every file and directory on Unix systems carries its
permissions which define the actions that the owner, the group, and others can do with the file
or directory.

The only user who can override file permissions in Unix is the root user.

Each permission starts with either a ‘-‘ or a ‘d’. ‘-‘ indicates it’s a file, ‘d’ indicates a directory.
Then come 9 digits, each group of 3 representing the user, group and other portions
accordingly.

Some examples:
• 777 | -rwxrwxrwx - no restrictions at all
• 755 | -rwxr-xr-x - only file’s owner can read, write and execute. All others can read and execute
• 700 | -rwx——— - only file’s owner can read, write and execute. Nobody else has rights
• 666 | -rw-rw-rw - all can read and write, no one can execute
• 644 | -rw-r—r— - only file owner can read and write, all others can read
• 600 | -rw———- - owner can only read and write, nobody else has rights
• 777 | drwxrwxrwx - no restrictions at all
• 755 | drwxr-xr-x - only directory owner can read, write and execute. All others can read and
execute
• 700 | drwx——— - only directory owner can read, write and execute. Nobody else has rights
Linux Tools and Features

Most used file systems:

• ext3 (64-bit, journaling support)
• ext4
• FAT
• FAT32
• NFS

Most installations support swap partitions. Linux OSs are used in embedded-systems, wearable
devices, smartwatches, netbook, PCs, severs and super computers. There are many
distributions (distros) of Linux (e.g. Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, SUSE etc.). Each distro adds specific
packages and features to the main Linux kernel and provides different support options. Most
have a GUI.

GNU-Linux is an open-source, independently developed OS, which is compatible with Unix

commands. Linux uses the popular boot manager Grub.

Different Linux distributions ship with different software packages, but users decide what stays
in their system by installing or removing packages.

Ubuntu Linux uses Gnome as its default GUI.

Main GUI components:

• Launcher - dock equivalent
• Dash search box - similar to Launchpad
• Top Menu bar - status bar, time etc.
• System and notification menu
• Lenses - fine tune results

The OS often boots into the GUI. If you want to use a CLI, you can do it through a terminal
emulator application. They provide the user access to the CLI and are often named after some
variation of the word ‘terminal’.

Linux does not have a built-in backup tool. However, there are many commercial and open
source backup solutions for Linux such as Amanda, Bacula, Fwbackups, and Déjà Dup.

To help diagnose and solve disk-related problems, most modern operating systems include disk
utility tools. Ubuntu Linux includes a disk utility called Disks.
With Disks users can perform:

• Partition management
• Mount or unmount - bind partition disk image to a folder location and vice versa
• Format disks
• Bad sector check
• Query Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) - detect and report attributes about a
disk’s health

The terminal emulator apps for Linux are Terminator, eterm, xterm, konsole, gnome-terminal.

Backups and disk checks are 2 tasks that should be performed regularly. In order to avoid
skipping these tasks due to human error, the user can schedule the computer to do it
automatically. Another benefit of this is that procedures can be scheduled to be completed
when no users are using the computer. In Linux and macOS, the cron service is responsible for
scheduling tasks.

The cron table is a plain text file that has 6 columns.

To schedule a task, the user adds a row to the table. When the specified date and time arrives,
the command is executed.

The security credentials manager for Ubuntu is Gnome-keyring.

Linux CLI commands:
• cp - copies files from source to destination
• ls - displays files inside the directory
• mv - moves files or directories
• cd - changes the current directory
• mkdir - creates a directory under the current one
• rm - removes files and directories
• pwd - displays the name of the current directory
• crontab -e - create and edit cron table
• crontab -l - lost the current cron table
• crontab -r - remove the cron table
• passwd - allows users to change their password
• ps - allows users to monitor their own processes
• kill - ends the processes that have started
• ifconfig - deprecated, same as ipconfig
• iwconfig - allows users to set and view the wireless settings
• chmod - allows users to change permission of files they own

Changing files and settings throughout the server requires either Super User Do (sudo) or root
access.

Sudo grants users root access without changing their profile.

• chown - allows users to switch both the owner and the group of files
• apt-get (now - apt) - used to install and manage software on Debian based Linux distributions
• Shutdown - halt and reboot the OS
• Dd (Disk Duplicate) - copy files and partitions, create temporary swap files

macOS Tools and Features

Most used file systems:

• Extended Hierarchical File System (HFS Plus) - same as NTFS minus native encryption
• Apple File System (APFS) - same as HFS Plus with native encryption, max size 8 ExaBytes

Unix is a proprietary OS written in C. macOS and iOS are based on the Berkley Standard
Distribution (BSD) version of Unix. macOS, however, is closed-source. Updates are distributed
free in the App Store.

macOS supports remote network installation similar to Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE)
called NetBoot.

macOS GUI uses the Aqua theme. Aqua was designed around the theme of water, with
components resembling droplets and a deliberate use of reflection and translucency.

macOS GUI components:

• Apple Menu - apple logo
• Application Menu - File, View etc.
• Menu bar
• Status Menu - wifi, battery etc.
• Spotlight
• Dock
• Notification Center
• Desktop Area
macOS tools:
• Mission Control - a quick way to see everything that is currently open on your Mac
• Remote Disk - lets the user access a CD/DVD drive on another Mac or Windows computer
• Screen sharing - lets other people using Macs to be able to view/control your screen

macOS includes a backup tool called Time Machine. With Time Machine, users choose an
external drive to be used as a backup destination device and connect it to the Mac via USB,
FireWire or Thunderbolt. Time Machine will prepare the disk to receive backups and, when the
disk is ready, it performs incremental backups periodically.

Time Machine also stores some backups on your Mac, so if the Time Machine backup disk is not
available, you may be able to restore a backup directly from your Mac. This type of back up is
called a local snapshot.

macOS includes Disk Utility. In addition to supporting the main disk maintenance tasks
(specified in the Linux portion), Disk Utility also supports Verify Disk Permissions and Repair
Disk Permissions.

The native terminal emulator app for macOS Terminal.

The security credentials manager for macOS is Keychain.

Common Problems and Causes

• Mobile device won’t connect to the internet - Wi-Fi off, Wi-Fi settings incorrect, Airplane Mode
on
• An app fails to respond - app doesn’t work correctly, app failed to close, memory low, out of
storage space
• Mobile device fails to respond - OS has encountered an error, app has caused OS to become
unresponsive, memory low, out of storage space
• Cannot send or receive email - not connected to the internet, email acc settings incorrect
• Cannot install additional apps and save photos - out of storage
• Cannot pair with a Bluetooth device - Bluetooth off, out of range, device off, incorrect pin code
• Display looks dim - low brightness, auto brightness doesn’t work/not calibrated
• Mobile device cannot broadcast to an external monitor - no wireless display-capable device
available, wireless display technology off
• Mobile device slow - GPS is running, 1+ power intensive app running, memory low
• Unable to decrypt email - email client not set up to do so, incorrect decryption key
• Mobile OS frozen - incompatible app, poor network, device has failing hardware
• No sound from speaker - low/muted volume, speaker failed
• Inaccurate touchscreen response - touchscreen not calibrated/dirty/shorting out due to water
damage
• Weak/dropped signal - not enough cell towers, out of range, wrong grip
• Battery dying quicker than normal - too bright display, app using too many resources, too
many radios in use
• Slow data speeds - too far from high speed data, mobile device roaming, data transmission
over the usage limit, high resource utilization
• Device automatically connects to random Wi-Fi/Bluetooth networks - it’s told to do so duh
• Device has leaked personal data - lost or stolen, malware
• Mobile acc accessed by random dudes - credentials stored by default, no VPN, no passcode,
passcode discovered, malware, database compromised
• Automatic backup operation doesn’t start - Time Machine/Deja Dup off
• Directory appears empty - mount point, files deleted/hidden
• macOS cannot read disk using Remote Disc - Mac already has an optical drive installed,
option to permit using drive enabled
• Application stops responding in macOS - app stopped working, using an unavailable resource
• Wi-Fi not accessible in Ubuntu - wireless NIC driver didn’t install correctly
• “Missing GRUB” or “Missing LILO” - GRUB or LILO corrupted/deleted
• Linux or macOS exhibit kernel panic stop screen - driver corrupted, hardware failing

Abbreviations

• SDK - software development kit

• APK - android application package
• IPS - Indoor Positioning System
• WAP - wireless action protocol
• MDM - mobile device management
• PRL - Preferred roaming list
• PRI - primary rate ISDN
• S.M.A.R.T. - Query Analysis and Reporting Technology
• HFS Plus - Extended Hierarchical File System
• APFS - Apple File System
• BSD - Berkley Standard Distribution