The usage of mobile phones continues to grow, so does the number of applications. So how many of us can vouch for the fact that they can build a 100% hack proof app? Well, the according to the present scenario the answer seems to be ‘none’! With enough time, research, tactics and latest technologies any system can be hacked.
An average adult has around 26 to 55 applications downloaded on their smartphones, so even a single glitch on any of the application can cost you a major loss of information and vital data to the people around to whom you would not like to share details with
Some vital stats to take away your breath and increase your concern are as follows:
I am sure this alarming stat is bound to ring a bell inside your head! We have always countered the saying that prevention is better than cure, so be it then. Let us see what are the preventive measures or precautions we can take to safeguard our apps from being hacked and mishandled.
1. Secure And Own The Code
The mobile malware is the one aspect which taps all the bugs or vulnerabilities in the design as well as the coding of the apps they target. More than 11 million mobile devices are being affected by the malicious code at a particular time in today’s date. In fact, even before the vulnerability is exploited the cyber criminals obtain the public copy of the target application and reverse engineer it. The renowned and marketed apps are repackaged into ‘rogue apps’ that has the malicious code and then they are put up on the third party app stores to attract the unsuspecting users to install them and thereby compromise all the information on their device. Therefore the enterprises should look out for tools and techniques that would help their developers to detect the security loopholes and safeguard their applications against malicious activities and tampering.
2. Use of Android Keychain And iCloud Keychain
A keychain is a secured storage container to keep all the confidential data namely your password, username and other credentials for all the applications under one roof. It is a far better alternative for developers to leverage this particular feature as a part of the operating system for the purpose of data storage rather than using p-list and NSUserDefaults to store it. Making use of the keychain also ensures the user doesn’t have to log in each and every time the application is opened.
3. Early Detection of Vulnerable Run-time Environment
No matter how much secure the application is but a majority of its security underlies the device’s security. A jailbroken or a rooted device magnifies the risk for hacking the app. Enterprises have to without fail look methods to gauge dynamically the security of the device beneath. First and foremost the mobile app sandbox must be under tight security regards. Jailbreaking and rooting destroy and weaken the underlying security model.It is most viable to restrict such devices from acquiring and dealing with the enterprise data. These malicious activities are increasing at a high pace hence it is extremely essential to cope up with these threats.
4. Use Encryption
To secure your data another vital step that you can cater to is the usage of encryption. We have to make sure to use as much encryption as possible while saving user data in any local database. It is the simple process of translating the plaintext into cipher or unreadable text with the help of certain algorithm based keys. So to access the data the attacker must get hold of the decipher key first, thereby securing your confidential data.
5. Secure The Transaction
The mobile apps allow the users to transact with myriad services on the go and this itself increases the risk tolerance. The enterprises should adopt the risk-aware approach that intelligently restricts the client side functionality depending on various aspects like user location, device security attributes, etc. Even when the client side transaction has been sanctioned the apps can leverage the mobile risk engine to correlate the various risk factors like IP velocity, user access patterns, and a lot more. This ensures the organization’s ability to detect and take quick action to highly complicated attacks tending to span multiple interactions and apparently non-related events.
As the number of smartphones increase, so does the number of apps hence they are becoming the most attractive targets for the cyber criminals. However, the proposed framework is like to look at the security of data, device, transactions as components of a single aspect to reduce the hacking risks to as low as possible. So make sure to find the correct balance between innovation and security to make your app successful as well as safe.
Secure yourself a little more with some extra knowledge:
End To End Encryption (E2EE) – Secure Chats In Mobile Apps!
Mobile Data Security: Hot Tips to Reduce Risks
BYOD and CYOD – Security Challenges For Enterprises (Solved)
7 Risks Associated With Your Data on Mobile Devices
References: csoonline, securityintelligence, legalzoom, thetrademarkhub
Ajeet Singh
