What is Mobile App Security?
Mobile devices (cell phones and tablets) and the applications that run on them are much more popular today than web applications run on desktops and laptops. These devices and apps store a great deal of sensitive data that is at risk in many ways and must be protected from unauthorized access. Mobile vulnerability comes in many shapes and forms. A mobile device can be stolen, email and personal contacts can be exposed to untrusted networks, and all kinds of malware can be installed.
Despite this, a study done by IBM shows that 50% of companies have no budget dedicated to mobile app security.
Mobile application security relates to the software security posture of apps on mobile devices and involves the assessment of the applications for security issues. It is more difficult to implement security measures in mobile applications, which require measures such as tamper detection and code obfuscation) than in web apps.
Some common issues that affect mobile apps include:
Storage of sensitive data in a way that it can be read by other applications on the same phone.
Poor authentication and authorization settings that can be bypassed by malicious users or applications.
These issues can be exploited by malicious applications or by an attacker using the same WiFi network as the end user.
According to an IBM study, on average, companies test fewer than half of their mobile apps, and 33% of companies never test their apps at all.
There are three main ways in which mobile AST solutions test applications:
No single tool can provide a comprehensive mobile app vulnerability assessment. The three kinds of tests must be combined into an efficient holistic assessment in order to discover vulnerabilities that might otherwise have been missed.
The testing process includes:
Decrypting parts of the application that are encrypted.
Interacting with an application and learning how it receives, transmits, and stores data.
Decompiling the app and analyzing the resulting code.
Pinpointing security weaknesses in the decompiled code using static analysis.
Applying the understanding gained to drive penetration testing and dynamic analysis.
Utilizing penetration and dynamic analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of the app’s security controls (such as authorization and authentication controls).
Mobile application vulnerability testing is used in pre-production to ensure that the app’s security controls work as expected and to safeguard against implementation errors. It can help to discover edge cases (which can turn into security bugs). The testing process takes into account code as well as configuration issues in order to ensure that any security issues are discovered before the app goes live.
Before you can secure your application, you must perform a risk assessment in order to find out what the threats are and how at risk your mobile application is from them. A proper assessment will save time, reduce risks, and implement actionable security measures to both improve safety and meet mandatory compliance standards.
It is important, first of all, to know exactly what assets you are trying to protect. What might an attacker be interested in getting access to? Once you know this, the next steps are to:
The top five mobile app security threats are:
1. Unsecured Wi-Fi - Threat actors can leverage unprotected networks to access sensitive data directly from mobile devices or applications.
2. Apps with malicious code - Hackers can use unsecured apps to garner and exploit sensitive data.
3. Operating system vulnerabilities - Emerging vulnerabilities are monitored by software engineers, who then adjust operating systems to address threats. The best way to protect your mobile device and applications is to update your operating system whenever possible and to upgrade your mobile device if necessary (if the operating system is no longer compatible with new updates).
4. Data Leaks - Mobile apps typically store data on remote servers. Once they have downloaded a new application,. users don’t always review the permissions before filling out information. Cybercriminals who gain access to the remote servers on which this data is stored can access confidential data either from insecure storage, browser cookies, or caching.
5. Cryptography Issues - Mobile cryptography, which assures that apps operate safely, is crucial for security. Poor cryptographic implementations, or a complete lack of them, leaves sensitive data vulnerable to threat actors.
In order to effectively deploy secure software, you need clear, consistent, measurable, and testable software security requirements. Security requirements are goals set out for an application from the outset based on what need the app is meant to fill. Just as you lay out your goals for how the final app will function and what it will do, you must include your security goals as well.
In order to determine your security requirements, you must consider what specific kinds of vulnerabilities you are looking to prevent, what preventative measures you will take, and how you will measure whether your requirements are met.
There are three kinds of security requirements:
In order to meet your security goals, your developers and designers need a list of specific, clear, achievable requirements. When building those requirements, consider the following questions:
