Crafting a Swift Package Plugin for App Data Protection
<p>Protecting data and intellectual property is a common but challenging task in software development. No developer wishes their individual or team efforts to be unlawfully exploited by intruders or competitors. While iOS apps provide significant security — provided by Apple encryption and runtime sandbox — more in-depth analysis of the IPA file reveals that not all files are encrypted. Various resources can be easily accessed, even without jailbreaking. Apple partially solved this problem by implementing encryption of Core ML models, but many resources remain unprotected.</p>
<p>In this detailed article, I will show you how to implement automatic file encryption in your project using the power of SPM plugins.</p>
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<p>Note: The source code for this article can be found in this repository.</p>
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<p>To set the stage, we will first familiarize ourselves with the theoretical aspects of SPM plugins.</p>
<h1>Swift Package Manager Plugins Explained</h1>
<p>Swift package plugins encompass two categories: command plugins and build tool plugins. Command plugins are typically invoked using the <code>swift package <command> <arguments></code> syntax, whereas build tool plugins integrate into the project’s build graph, triggering automatically.</p>
<p>The main objective of the build tool plugins is to provide commands that enhance package building. These commands can be either build or prebuild commands</p>
<h1>Developing a Command and Plugin</h1>
<p>The command for file encryption will be introduced via an executable file, generated from an executable Swift package that utilizes the Swift Argument Parser.</p>
<p>It will require two arguments: the directory containing the files to be encrypted, and the destination directory where the encrypted files along with the generated code will be saved</p>
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