A Checklist Every Developer Must Have For Mobile App Security Testing

Mobile apps have become the final solution for every organization to handle their businesses. Thus, the usage of mobile apps has been rising heights in these recent years. While many of the apps play the function of storing and showing data, other apps are involved in transferring some of the sensitive data. However, with greater power come great responsibilities. Thus, it is necessary that the companies safeguard their apps alongside enjoying the tremendous advantages that these apps provide.

Mobile app security works in a completely different way than any of the traditional applications.

Time is of the heart when it gets to the latest mobile universe. Developers are always in a rush when placing together a mobile app that seldom forgets to implement the most critical security actions that should be performed.

Thus we have come up with a quick checklist that you could refer to when creating your mobile apps.

Penetration Tests

One of the best ways to bypass security risks is by conducting pen tests on your mobile applications against several vulnerabilities. Penetration testing involves hacking into mobile apps and following both general and mobile-specific attacks. It also provides replication of the attacker’s action to obtain confidential information.

Every device tremendously changes with regards to the characteristics and operating systems. Thus, there are unique challenges that arise when running penetration tests. However, this method shouldn’t be avoided because it is a complete necessity when it comes to discovering loopholes in a system. If left unnoticed, these loopholes could grow to become potential threats that provide access to the mobile’s data and features.

Source Code Encryption

Almost all the codes in a native mobile app are left on the client’s side. Mobile malware often targets vulnerabilities in the code and design to pose a threat to mobile applications. Before the attack, the attackers can obtain a public copy of the application. They reverse-engineer the application so that the codes could be raided and malicious codes could be inserted. After which they are further posted on third-party app stores to deceive the people who install them.

Furthermore, be more careful when using codes from third-party libraries. Review the code thoroughly to ensure that it doesn’t have any security flaws. Third-party libraries can be a lifesaver when operating on time-consuming projects; however, they can seldom be extremely insecure for your apps.

Threats like these can take a company’s reputation downhill. Developers should thus put extreme care when building an app and add tools to identify and close security vulnerabilities. Developers should even make their applications strong against any tampering and reverse-engineering too. Minimization would make the code harder to understand; however, they won’t significantly assure secrecy. Keeping the codes a secret is of great importance, and encryption provides the most effective and highest security making the code unreadable.

Security of the Device

A mobile application can only remain safe if the phone is secure. Otherwise, when mobile is ‘rooted’ or ‘jailbroken’, it leads to authentic software limitations that have been compromised. By creating an application ‘risk-aware’, enterprises are provided the ability to put a limitation on particular functionalities, sensitive data, and business resources. Moreover, enterprises are asked to not solely depend on native app development platforms, as these platforms are not always immune to mobile security threats.

Thus, it is smart to choose intelligent sources and quality application services to have a track of the apps and their associated risks.

Protecting Data in the Transit

Data is continuously transmitted from clients to servers, and it requires to be protected to keep away from privacy leaks. It might look like an unimportant task to most developers, but it is never a better choice to be ignorant when the security of an app is at stake. Using either an SSL or VPN tunnel is extremely advisable when you are deciding to safeguard the data that is being sent from a client to the server.

A risk-aware transaction should be covered by the complete organization to decrease risk factors regarding mobile applications.

File-Level and Database Encryption

The bandwidth and varying connection quality indicate the importance of more client-side code and the vast amount of data collected on a device. Unlike desktop applications, mobile applications are needed to stay on the device itself. Moreover, this very fact has a significant influence on security. Most developers design the mobile app in a method that the data is stored in the local file system. However, by default, these can’t encrypt the data and thus leave a significant loophole for potential vulnerabilities.

To overcome this, modules that can encrypt the data should be set to use. They can provide file-level encryption and can be very valuable when it comes to increasing security.

High-Level Authentication

Security breaches usually occur due to the lack of high-level authentication. Authentication applies to passwords and other personal identifiers that are put to work as a hindrance to entry. Only the users with the appropriate identifier can access the information, whereas the others are left out. However, when operating as a developer, this largely depends on the end-users. Thus, encouraging the users to get more sensitive towards authentication would be the best way to evade security breaches.

Developers should design the apps in such a way that it only takes strong alphanumerical passwords. Additionally, ensures that the app makes the user modify these passwords every three or six months. In the case of very sensitive apps, biometric authentication should be used such as fingerprints and retina scans.

Also Read: Information Security Testing Guide For You

Conclusion

Now that you have the whole checklist of security measures that you should take when producing an app, you would prove to be a sinecure. However, it is desirable that every developer become extra careful, and set all the safety measures to use to make the application as powerful as an ox.

Need to implement mobile app security testing? Think no more! TestUnity provides the testing services on-demand, serves with projects of any scale, and is ready to start with a few days’ advance notice. Choose to team up with a QA services provider like TestUnity. Our team of testing experts specializes in QA and has years of experience implementing tests with different testing software. Get in touch with a TestUnity expert today.

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