Achilles heels for mobile app security and it is important to understand this concept before anything. From the mainframes to the smartwatches it is evident that applications exist for each and every computing platform.
According to recent statistics, a disturbing picture has come to light when it comes to mobile applications. According to the data that was collected with the help of a security audit firm. There were high-risk vulnerabilities in 38% and 43% of iOS and Android applications respectively. These huge lapses in security can lead to high associated costs. The economic burden of the data breaches will be as high as $26.4 million for an entrepreneur. Mobile app security is usually lagging. There are some of the steps that guide on how to deal with mobile app security. This prevents any kind of data breaches.
Multi-factor authentication:
Multifactor authentication is something that helps to limit the user from gaining access to the system. This makes the user follow or provide multiple pieces of evidence to gain access to the system. These factors usually include knowledge such as passwords and pins, and possessions such as physical devices and tokens. Lastly, the inherence such as unique characteristics.
Biometrics helps to step up security. These days there is no shortage in mobile biometrics.
Some of the mobile developers focus on device native biometrics and many others opt for in-app biometrics-based authentication to customize the security features of the app. This helps the users and gives them peace of mind. It makes sure that the users are given sufficient security that they require.
Mobile app security: secure data storage
The well-known open web application has prepared its project known as OWASP. Many mobile phones have seen data storage or any similar vulnerabilities.
Mobile apps are usually known for collecting and storing sensitive information such as personal information, geolocation data, credentials and credit card information, and many more. An adversary can easily access this data through a stolen device or malware.
The basic rule is not to store such sensitive data on mobile apps. However, if you do so mobile apps must also encrypt the data and 256-bit keys are the best method that helps to protect the data and its confidentiality for the end-users.
Code obfuscation
Another threat for the mobile app security is reverse engineering. This can be used to decompile an application and gain access to the source code. When the code has become vulnerable to malicious attackers, they can exploit it or modify the functionality of the app and compromise the backend systems.
In addition, Apple makes some efforts to obfuscate the content by archiving everything into files that are titled with random strings. However, unarchiving the content is a trivial task with the help of an iPhone backup extractor. Once this is unpacked, several contents such as documents and data are stored within the SQLite database files or .plist files.
Third parties libraries management
These are the external components that are usually used by the engineers to reduce the cost of the development and also to accelerate time to the market. These open-source libraries constitute 90% of the modern mobile apps. A code that is not authored internally may also contain bugs and vulnerabilities that represent a potential attack on the vector.
To manage the third-party libraries, it becomes difficult to stay on top of the application security. For that, the developers need to focus on maintaining a comprehensive inventory for the third-party software components, keeping track of the updates, and also managing dependencies.
Automated security testing
A well-rounded security approach can not be possible without robust mobile security. The end-to-end testing helps to identify what are the potential risks and vulnerabilities before there is any kind of damage and for the privacy and the security of the end-users.
Apart from penetration testing and vulnerability assessment, the engineers can also perform static as well as dynamic code analysis, data encryption testing, malware analysis, and many more. The automation of mobile security helps with improvement in efficiency and increasing the test coverage to deliver secure mobile apps faster.
Conclusion
Oftentimes, mobile applications have a huge amount of features but poor security and the quality of the mobile apps. The security of the mobile apps can never be an afterthought and it is important to focus on the security of these applications. To ensure that there is top-notch security, it is important to provide quality mobile app solutions. The mobile applications must incorporate multi factor authentication, data encryption, code obfuscation, third-party libraries management, and many more features.
1 Comment
exciting stuff