#1 iOS Security Tips: UIPasteboard | iOS Development

What is UIPasteboard:

This is a method to share data between any other app using cut or copy methods.

How it become a Security concern:

When we copy a sensitive piece of data, It will store in the general paste board of our system which can access by another apps

How to access general paste board programmatically:

UIPasteBoard.general.string

Methods to prevent this security issue:

1. isSecureTextEntry

UITextField has a property called isSecureTextEntry. We can set this to true. Its mainly used for passwords

let passwordTextField = UITextField()
passwordTextField.isSecureTextEntry = true

2. Wipe the content in the paste board in the AppDelegate's applicationWillResignActive method

UIPasteboard.general.items = [[String: Any]()]

3. Create an app specific paste board

The data will not be available to other app if we use custom paste board.
How to create a custom paste board in AppDelegate

extension AppDelegate {
    static let pastboardName = UIPasteboard.Name(rawValue: "CustomPasteBoard")
    static var customPasteBoard: UIPasteboard? = UIPasteboard(name: pastboardName, create: true)
}

How to store data in custom paste board

extension UITextField {
    open override func copy(_ sender: Any?) {
        AppDelegate.customPasteBoard?.string = self.text
    }

    open override func cut(_ sender: Any?) {
        AppDelegate.customPasteBoard?.string = self.text
        self.text = nil
    }

    open override func paste(_ sender: Any?) {
        if let text = AppDelegate.customPasteBoard?.string {
            self.text = text
        }
    }
}

This will store your app's data to custom paste board.

Apple Doc of UIPasteboard
Happy Coding🔥

Comments

[Akhil Karonnon]

👍