Google’s KeyChain API Makes Android Prepare For The Enterprise

Posted on Mar 14 2012 - 6:35am by Editorial Staff

Google with its full focus on helping up and easing the manageability issues for Android developers focusing on enterprise environments and now with Android 4.0, the company with its KeyChain API should able to break down at least a little barriers in order to make Android more attractive for the enterprise. With the way, ICS opens the door for Android to make its path as BlackBerry into the market. The feature includes improved security and encryption, VPN access, and powerful productivity features, which make Android a much more attractive development platform.

Tim Bray on the Android developers blog:

To bridge the gap in ICS, there’s a new API named KeyChain that regulates application access to the system key store and allows users to grant application access to the credentials stored there. Additionally, this API enables applications to initiate installation of credentials from X.509 certificates and PKCS#12 key stores.

The KeyChain API is rather simple. To install a key store or a certificate, you retrieve an install intent, supply the raw bytes of the credentials, and use the intent to launch a system installation dialog. If it’s a keystore, as in the example below, you’ll need provide the data in PKCS#12 format, and the user will have to know the PKCS#12 password.

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