How to Increase Security of Mobile Apps in 2021?
Smartphones have become the weakness of every human today, as with just a click of a button we can achieve many tasks and fulfill our wants. Humans have been consumed by technology and are trapped into a vicious circle from where it isn’t easy to come out. With each passing day, there is an increase in the overall mobile app’s usage.
An interesting fact to note is that there are a more significant number of mobile devices connected to the internet than there are actual humans in the world today.
One can download the different mobile apps through the platforms such as Google Play Store, Windows Store, or App Store. Around the world, mobile apps have become a powerful source of delivering a plethora of content to the users and providing immense value to each of them. Many organizations have also started using different mobile apps to increase their employee’s overall productivity levels.
Here are some stats to prove that there is a dire need for mobile app security in 2021:
- Of the total of 100 top paid apps in the Google Play Store, 100% have been hacked till now.
- Of the total 100 top paid apps in the Apple App Store, 56% have been hacked till now.
- Every year, the number of malicious mobile malware infections goes up by 163%, which is a huge jump.
These numbers get worse when currently, most of the organizations follow the policy of BYOD (Bring your own device). As per this policy, the employees are today allowed to merge their professional and personal interests by using a single device.
As per the analysis, almost 84% of the USA consumers today use a single device to carry out both their personal and private work. This thereby reduces the company’s IT department’s ability to secure access to confidential data.
Mobile Application Security – A Mandate More Than A Choice
The mobile apps, which get hacked and eventually cracked, create an ideal potential for the following:
- Revenue Loss: Due to the lack of mobile app security, the app may lose its customers, thereby yielding a considerable chunk of its revenue.
- Fraud Cases: You could land into big trouble, without any significant mistake of yours. Getting into legalities is a tedious task, and you surely do not want that.
- Brand Damage: Making a brand name takes years, but the brand name to get damaged takes hardly a day. Hacking of the mobile app can spoil the reputation of the brand.
- Access to data: The hackers can use the personalized data of the people who are saved on the app. There can be a misuse of the data.
Hence, application developers need to be very careful now while developing the app. Developers need to come up with ways of how they can secure the app and save it from getting into illegal activities.
Top 3 Mobile App Security Tips
It has become the need of the hour to develop mobile apps in a much secure way and, at the same time, use multiple checks to keep intact the security of mobile apps. Here are some primary tips to increase the security of mobile apps in 2021:
1. Encryption of the Source Code:
The mobile malware goes on to tap the bugs within the source code and design of the mobile app. As per the reports and research, it was claimed that almost 30 million mobile devices were infected by malicious codes at a particular time. Attackers generally repackage the popular apps into ‘rogue apps’ and publish them. Hence, this is the primary reason why encryption of the source code is essential. A tip: the usage of JavaScript will ensure the source code cannot get accessed by anybody.
2. Understanding the Platform In-Depth:
If a developer is developing for various mobile operating systems, it is always better to properly understand the features and limitations that the platform holds. The developer needs to consider the case scenarios of the different users, support of encryption and password, and location data support. This is done to easily place the apps on the platforms.
3. Data Security:
In any app, data plays a huge role, and it is essential to secure the users’ data. A mobile app, when accesses the confidential data of an individual or an enterprise, stores the necessary information on the device, leaving it open to hacking instances. With the help of mobile data encryption, it becomes easier to secure the data. This can be done by using file-level encryption across the various operating systems.
4. Network Security:
Containerization is the method used by developers to increase network security. If your app uses a custom or new certification authority (CA), you can declare your network’s security settings in a configuration file. The process involves app bundling with the configuration files to run seamlessly in a different computing environment. The process lets you create configuration without modifying any app code.
Thus, when a user interacts with the app, they trust the app with their information. They agree to a certain number of permissions, which allows the apps to get access to the crucial information of the user. In such instances, it becomes the developers’ responsibility to secure the app not just from the front-end but also from the backend.
