How to Prevent MiTM Attacks on Android Apps Using AI

Last updated June 8, 2025 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Prevent MiTM Attacks in Android apps.

What are MiTM Attacks?

A Man-in-the-Middle (MiTM) attack occurs when a hacker secretly intercepts and potentially alters the communication between a mobile app and its backend server. This exposes data in transit—information actively being transferred over a network—to theft or manipulation. Mobile MiTM attacks are commonly carried out using malicious proxies (tools that relay or modify traffic), unsecured Wi-Fi connections, stale session IDs (authentication tokens that are expired or improperly reused), phishing (tricking users into revealing sensitive information), DNS manipulation (redirecting domain names to attacker-controlled IP addresses), or forged SSL/TLS certificates (fake digital credentials used to impersonate secure services).

How Appdome Prevents MiTM Attacks

Appdome’s dynamic Prevent MiTM Attacks plugin protects mobile apps by strictly enforcing SSL/TLS certificate validation—the process of verifying that digital certificates are legitimate and trusted. During each connection, Appdome validates the entire certificate chain, which is the sequence of certificates from the server to a trusted root authority. It blocks untrusted, self-signed, or compromised certificates that could be used to impersonate legitimate servers. The plugin also detects attempts to inject fake Certificate Authorities (CAs) or tamper with the SSL/TLS handshake, the protocol used to establish encrypted communications between devices and servers.

Post-Quantum Cryptography

Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) refers to cryptographic algorithms designed to withstand attacks from quantum computers, highly advanced machines capable of solving complex mathematical problems much faster than today’s classical computers. Most current security systems rely on asymmetric encryption, which uses a pair of keys (public and private) and is secure against classical computers due to the difficulty of mathematical operations like factoring large numbers. However, quantum computers could break this model, putting encrypted data at risk.
To defend against this emerging threat, Appdome implements strong PQC protections. For data in transit, Appdome enforces TLS 1.3, a modern network encryption protocol that currently relies on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), a type of asymmetric encryption. To strengthen this further, Appdome Certificate Pinning plugin allows hardcoding a specific server certificate into the app. This ensures the app only communicates with trusted servers, increasing the chain of trust and reducing the risk of interception, even against future quantum-enabled threats.

These protections ensure that mobile app communications remain authentic, encrypted, and tamper-proof. Best of all, Appdome’s Prevent MiTM Attacks requires no coding or developer effort, delivering continuous, automated security against MiTM and certificate-based threats.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Prevent MiTM Attacks Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Prevent MiTM Attacks , you’ll need:

How to Implement Prevent MiTM Attacks in Android Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Prevent MiTM Attacks without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Designate the Mobile App to be protected.

    1. Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.

    2. Android Formats: .apk or .aab
    3. Prevent MiTM Attacks is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
  2. Select the defense: Prevent MiTM Attacks.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Prevent MiTM Attacks feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Prevent MiTM Attacks

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Prevent MiTM Attacks feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Prevent MiTM Attacks feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you select the Prevent MiTM Attacks you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Prevent MiTM Attacks.

        Fusion Set applied Prevent MiTM Attacks

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Prevent MiTM Attacks protection
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
        1. Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
    1. Add the Prevent MiTM Attacks feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Security tab > Secure Communication section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > Prevent MiTM Attacks.

        (a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Prevent MiTM Attacks as shown below.

        (b) To receive mobile Threat Monitoring, check the ThreatScope™ box as shown below. For more details, see our knowledge base article on ThreatScope™ Mobile XTM.
        Prevent MiTM Attacks option

        Figure 4: Selecting Prevent MiTM Attacks

        Note: The Appdome Platform displays the Mobile Operation Systems supported by each defense in real-time. For more details, see our OS Support Policy KB.

      3. Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Prevent MiTM Attacks:
        1. Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense

          If the Threat-Events™ setting is not selected. Appdome will detect and defend user and app by enforcing Prevent MiTM Attacks.

        2. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects When MiTM attack is detected and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing, enforcement, and user notification. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Prevent MiTM Attacks Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

        3. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against MiTM Attacks (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Prevent MiTM Attacks Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Configure the User Experience Options for Prevent MiTM Attacks:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. App Compromise Notification: Customize the pop-up or toast Appdome uses to notify the user when a threat is present while using the protected mobile app.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s MiTM Attacks

        4. Prevent MiTM Attacks Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Prevent MiTM Attacks is triggered by an active threat on the mobile device. Use the code in Appdome Threat Resolution Center™ to help end users identify, find and resolve active threats on the personal mobile devices.
    2. Initiate the build command either by clicking Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 4) or via your CI/CD as described in Section 2.1.4.
    Congratulations!  The Prevent MiTM Attacks protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Prevent MiTM Attacks feature in Android Apps

    After building Prevent MiTM Attacks, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Prevent MiTM Attacks protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Prevent MiTM Attacks protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Prevent MiTM Attacks shown in Certificate secure

    Figure 6: Certified Secure™ certificate

    Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Prevent MiTM Attacks has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Prevent MiTM Attacks and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for MiTM Attacks Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when MiTM Attacks are detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for MiTM Attacks in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for MiTM Attacks shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for MiTM Attacks are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Prevent MiTM Attacks Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Prevent MiTM Attacks
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check
Visible in ThreatScope™
Developer Parameters for Preventing MiTM Attacks Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME SslCertificateValidationFailed
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF 6500
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
failSafeEnforce Timed enforcement against the identified threat
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn PLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices.
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occurred event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
carrierName Carrier name of the current device. Only available for Android.
updatedOSVersion Is the OS version up to date
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
timeZone Time zone
deviceFaceDown Is the device face down
locationLong Location longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLat Location latitude conditioned by location permission
locationState Location state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsid Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus Wifi SSID permission status
threatCode The last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device.
host The host that failed certificate validation
DeveventDetailedErrorMessage Error message
extendedMessageText Extended message
certificateCN Certificate common name
certificateSHA1 Certificate SHA1

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Android developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Android applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when MiTM Attacks are detected.


The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Prevent MiTM Attacks:


Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Android Apps by using Prevent MiTM Attacks. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Prevent MiTM Attacks

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Related Articles:

How to Prevent MiTM Attacks in iOS Apps

How to Use Certificate Pinning in Android & iOS Apps Using AI

How to Prevent Session Replay Attacks in Android & iOS Apps Using AI

How Do I Learn More?

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

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