Android Internals
Course

We are pleased to provide you with a comprehensive overview of our newly redesigned 5-day (45-hour) Android Internals deep-dive course, which walks participants through the full Android stack — from the Linux kernel, boot process, and ROM structure, through Binder IPC, JNI and the HAL, all the way up to SELinux, the App Sandbox, and hands-on reverse engineering with JEB and Frida. The course will be expertly conducted by Mr. Eran Katsav, the CEO and founder of SYNTAX COLLEGE, and is scheduled to take place at your esteemed company's offices.
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Syllabus

About us

Syntax College is renowned for delivering a range of courses focused on the Android operating system, catering to private corporations, government organizations, and offering online modules to the general public. Noteworthy clients include organizations such as Samsung™, General Motors™ and Carlson Wagonlit Travel™. It is imperative to highlight that all our courses are personally conducted by Mr. Eran Katsav himself, a distinguished professional holding a B.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a master's degree with honors from Tel Aviv University.
Concurrently, Eran has established himself as an independent developer in the mobile field over the past decade. Among his notable accomplishments is the creation of the first Hebrew voice assistant app, "Bip it," which has been adapted into various white-label versions, including integration into all Suzuki™ vehicles distributed in Israel.

Eran's Lecturing career

spans over 22 years. He currently holds positions at Reichman University (IDC, International School) and the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT).

At these institutions

he serves as a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, specializing in Native Android courses covering Kotlin and Java.

More than that

in HIT Eran serves as the head and founder of the mobile lab within the Department of Digital Medical Technologies.

Our Partners

Course Overview

  • Comprehensive Android Exploration: Walk the full Android stack — from the Linux kernel and HAL up through ART to the Java/Kotlin Framework — and understand how the pieces fit together as a real, shipping system.
  • Study Critical Components (AOSP, Kernel, HAL, ART, NDK, Framework)
  • Master the Boot Chain (bootloader → Zygote, Verified Boot, dm-verity)
  • ROM Structure Forensics (boot.img / system.img / vendor.img / vbmeta.img)
  • 17 Hands-on Labs (init.rc, Binder traces, AIDL end-to-end, etc.)
  • Binder IPC at Every Level (framework → kernel driver, ioctl, transactions)
  • Full-Stack Native Development (NDK + JNI + driver access)
  • Security Deep Dive (Sandbox, DAC/MAC, SELinux, Capabilities, Permissions)
  • Capstone Reverse Engineering (JEB + Frida malware analysis)

Course Outline

Our newly redesigned 5-day (45-hour) Android Internals course offers a complete, layer-by-layer exploration of the Android Operating System — from the silicon up to the APK. It opens with the platform's historical evolution and the relationship between AOSP and Google Mobile Services, then moves into a rigorous study of the architectural layers: the Linux kernel and its Android-specific additions, the HAL, Bionic, the ART runtime, the NDK, and the Java/Kotlin API Framework. Students gain a deep, first-principles understanding of the full boot chain (bootloader → vmlinux → init → Zygote → System Server), the ROM partition structure (boot.img, system.img, vendor.img, vbmeta.img), Verified Boot and dm-verity, memory and process management, and the Android security model — implemented through both Linux-based process isolation (the App Sandbox) and SELinux Mandatory Access Control.
Beyond theory, the course is roughly 75% hands-on — 17 practical labs across the five days, covering everything from init.rc tracing and factory-image forensics, through live Binder transaction analysis at the kernel-driver level, to end-to-end AIDL services built between two separate applications. Students write native C++ components using the NDK, bridge them into the framework with JNI, and learn to access driver interfaces directly through /dev and /sys. The course also drills into Reflection and Hidden APIs, Project Treble, the full Binder IPC framework (Proxy, Stub, Parcel, ServiceManager, ioctl and the Transaction Stack), and finishes with a capstone reverse-engineering lab using JEB and Frida on a purpose-built malicious sample — including root-detection bypass and full data-flow tracing. Whether your team is new to Android's internals or needs to extend existing expertise at the kernel, HAL, or security level, this course equips participants with the knowledge and tooling to operate at every layer of the system. Read More

"Throughout the course Eran demonstrated great knowledge, excellent teaching abilities, patience and aspiration for excellence. The insistence that every student understands every detail in the lessons is admirable, and the feedback from the students in the course proved it." (Ofer Rom, Android Team Leader)
"Eran tailored his syllabus to our needs, and then added more material that he felt was necessary for us. Eran prepared written material, presented it, and wrote code in real time to demonstrate. He has a strong command of Android. Any questions that came up, if he didn’t have an answer on the spot, Eran made sure to have the answer by the next session." (Yaakov Pechman, Software Development Manager)

Meeting Details

The Android Internals course is structured across five sessions. Each session spans 9 hours of in-depth study and is divided into two parts. The first part will be held from 9:00 AM to 12:45 PM, followed by the second part from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM. Meeting schedules will be thoughtfully coordinated with your organization's needs. For your convenience, we have attached a detailed syllabus and a session-by-session breakdown for your reference.

Reference Materials for Participants

Each participant will receive comprehensive summaries of all the principles covered in the course. It is important to note that all course materials, including this syllabus, summaries and exercises, whether completed in class or for additional practice, are protected by copyright and intended exclusively for the personal use of course participants.

Requirements and Workspace

The course will be hosted at the company's premises. To facilitate effective delivery, a Barco projector or Big-screen TV is required in the training room, and each participant must possess a device running the Android operating system for application testing and experimentation. The course will accommodate a maximum of 15 participants.

We eagerly anticipate the opportunity to collaborate with your esteemed organization and provide invaluable insights into the intricacies of the Android Operating System. Should you have any inquiries or require further details, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.