2019’s Top 6 Security Tips for Mobile Application to Avoid Security Threats
It’s been almost ten years since the mobile applications come into existence, and now, it is impossible to imagine a life without them. It allows us to perform almost all the tasks from anywhere and at any time.
We can purchase things online, book tickets, pay bills, do banking transactions, track fitness, control Internet of Things devices in our homes and offices. With millions of businesses and consumers worldwide, the effectiveness and ease of use of mobile apps have been a hit.
The popularity of it has continued to skyrocket, enabling users to do nearly everything. Before last year, mobile phone users spent approximately 90% of their time accessing mobile phones and apps, as opposed to the 10%, who opted for their browser rather.
Nearly all the businesses are finding mobile apps as useful tools for interacting and engaging with their customers. A highly effective and feature-rich branded application can make a huge difference in your business and develop customer loyalty and boost brand visibility.
However, it is important that all this should happen under a cape of well-experienced security or companies risk endangering their apps, their own system, customer’s information and their reputations. The main reason behind this is where digital activity thrives, hackers are not far behind.
Here are some of the tips to consider to make your mobile app safe and secure
Make Sure to Secure Your App’s Code from the Ground Up
Like any software project, mobile application security should be the main priority from the beginning. However, we all know that native applications are quite different from the web apps, where data and software exist securely on a server and the client-side is just an interface.
But with the native apps, the code resides on the device once it’s downloaded, ensuring it more accessible to all those with spiteful intent. In an application’s source code, there are lots of susceptibility exist; however, that is not where most of the businesses focus their security spending.
For complete security, network and data security components are highly essential parts, but the security should be beginning with the app itself. To avoid all these security problems in your code, you can protect app code with encryption. You want your code to be secret and quite difficult to read.
The common measures are obfuscation and minification, but they are not sufficient. You should stick with the modern and well-supported algorithms that joined with API encryption. You can also test code for weaknesses or you can run source code scanning as well.
Tough, secure application code must be portable between devices and operating systems and must be easy to patch and update. All you want that your users do not stick without an update after a breach; therefore, engineer code to be as agile as possible.
You should also consider in your mind things like file size, runtime memory, data and battery usage, and performance at the time of adding security to an app. It is easy to rely on an app store’s approval as proof that your app is completely safe and secure; however, it would be a mistake because you need to test apps and approve. App store approval processes are not completely dependable, and some of the unsafe native apps have been approved in the past.
Securing All the Services Within an Application
Talking about the app’s security, it is not only the application that has to be buttoned down. It is important for you to ensure that all the services that are delivered to run the app appropriately are safe. As applications are connected to data sources and data is flowing in varied directions.
All those connections should be secure that means you need to have a clear view of the services and systems you are integrating to make an app work wonderfully for end users. At the time of developing an app for customers, it is important to map out these systems and know these connections to prevent any potential for data or privacy breaches.
When it comes to iOS and Android, both the platforms have built-in security tools we take benefit of, but we are not assuming security is covered without doing the work ourselves.
Never Sacrifice App’s Security for Speed
In the race of getting applications to work instantly, many a time developer sacrifice the security of it. But overlooking to look and check services and data, which are converging within your app and how might be used in near future – can make you in trouble.
Especially, the people at Nissan seemed to have overlooked to think through all privacy ramifications for Leaf owners.
It is important that you strive hard to educate your clients as well that how important it is to ensure what you put out is completely secure and works like it is supposed to. What you think how many Nissan Leaf owners do you think to use the app again once it is secured and re-released.
Perform a Manual Verification
Once, you performed design/architecture reviews with threat modeling, it’s high time to perform some level of manual verification. The main scope and level of precision will be determined by the amount of risk posed by the app.
The size and the complexity of the application will decide the multiple levels of verification through iterative code reviews and penetration testing. It is must for organizations to engage mobile verification experts to work alongside internal teams. It is important for companies to have an eye towards a strong testing group from within.
So, these are the top security tips of 2019 for a mobile application to avoid security threats. To convert your innovative mobile app idea into high-end the application, you can hire a leading mobile app development company that has a proficient team of mobile app developers to comprehend your needs.
About the Author
Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.
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