Disabling Accessibility Events from Keyloggers

Last updated February 16, 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 Keystroke Logging in Android apps.

What are accessibility events?

Accessibility Events are events fired by the Android system when a notable change takes place in the user interface. Firing an event is performed by an Android View, which can fill the event with data about the UI change; for example, when a Button View was clicked or upon a text change in TextView Views.

The purpose of these events is to send notifications about UI changes to applications that use Accessibility Service. The enhanced capabilities of the user interface, which are integrated into the Accessibility Service, are generally meant to help users with disabilities interact with the application.

Why Cloak Accessibility Events?

Accessibility Events enable receiving data about most UI elements displayed on the app, which implemented the Accessibility Service class. Alternatively, these events enable obtaining the same data about other apps running on the device, if the data-receiving app has the appropriate permissions enabled.

By exploiting these the aforementioned capabilities, a potential attacker can disguise a malicious app as a seemingly innocent app. Then, after obtaining the Accessibility-related permissions from the user, the attacker can record View changes – particularly keystrokes – on other apps. In so doing, the attacker can collect highly confidential data items such as passwords and private personal information.

Developers can use this feature to cloak Accessibility Events so that those events cannot be read by attackers, keyloggers or other malware.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging Plugins:

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

How to Implement Prevent Keystroke Logging in Android Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Prevent Keystroke Logging 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. Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
  2. Select the defense: Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you select the Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging.

        Fusion Set applied Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging 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 Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Anti ATO tab > Mobile Account Protection section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging.
        Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging option

        Figure 4: Selecting Prevent Keystroke Logging

    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 Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging feature in Android Apps

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

    Figure 5: 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 Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for Keystroke Logging Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

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

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Keystroke Logging are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Prevent Keystroke Logging Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging
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 x
Visible in ThreatScope™ x
Developer Parameters for Preventing Keystroke Logging Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF
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.

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 Keystroke Logging are detected.


The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging:


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 Apps by using Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging. 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 Detect Keylogging Attacks > Disable Keystroke Logging

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 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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