This study analyzes which security mechanisms are available in popular cross-platform frameworks. Two most popular frameworks are considered – Apache Cordova and Xamarin, and in addition Alpha Anywhere, which was selected because of its advertised security features. The selected frameworks cover both development approaches, hybrid and interpreted applications. Apache Cordova and Alpha Anywhere create interpreted applications, while Xamarin generates hybrid applications.
A set of security mechanisms was defined to investigate how and if these mechanisms can be used with these frameworks. Several differences between hybrid and interpreted applications were noticed.