The development and deployment of any application must be safe and functional. It is quite a task to keep the application completely secure and resilient.
So, if you are working on an application, you must be aware of the common issues that could show up.
Therefore, to get you started on that, here, we present you the most common issues that you might face during mobile app development.
This way, you can ensure that the mobile application is up to the standards without any compromise on quality.
Almost everything contains mobile codes nowadays, as everyone carries a mobile device with them. And therefore, to maintain things in order to sustain the consistency of mobile phones.
The risks suffered by mobile devices can be a lot, and they can be a huge issue during the process.
So, to ensure that the app development is carried out without any compromises, consider the points that are explained below.
Some facts:
The vulnerabilities are around 40 per cent in Android and 35 per cent in iOS applications.
Security risks have been found on both platforms, with insecure data storage as the most common issue among all.
Around 90 per cent of vulnerabilities can be exploited with malware.
In a number of cases, the presence of many small deficiencies in different parts of mobile applications has been noted.
Cyber attacks mostly depend on the absence of the user. Sideloaded software and escalated paves the way towards a destructive attack.
Key targets of attacks
Everyone is using mobile devices to transfer a variety of data and information, considering that they are handy and efficient.
It can be said the possibility of compromises and attacks is directly proportional to the amount of data that flows through it.
With that said, attackers will take advantage of vulnerabilities such as insecure data exchange, data storage, risky third-party components, etc.
For the security reinforcement of your mobile applications, the first step is to investigate the vulnerabilities on both the application layer and the server side.
Once it’s done, then the process of fixing those problems should start. This article will highlight and explain in detail the most common vulnerabilities that you can face, so that they can be addressed beforehand, hence reducing the risks.
Insecure data storage:
This vulnerability takes place when any sensitive information can not be stored by secure means.
Moreover, one must always consider that the information stored on the devices is not safe because the information stored on the device could be stolen.
Furthermore, to tackle this vulnerability, you could store the applications in keychain pairs. Also, if the mobile application holds information in the SQLite database, then the data would be encrypted form.
No Penetration Testing
Pen-testing determines vulnerabilities or real-time security flaws in the application. As per research, many companies perform penetration testing to prevent data leaks.
But, sometimes, due to short deadlines or carelessness, this step gets skipped by the developers, and the application is released.
This could be a huge compromise to the security of the application. Therefore, no matter how close the deadline is, you can perform multiple pen tests on your application.
This helps you find security flaws that can be fixed in time and make sure that your website and mobile application are safe.
Server-side vulnerability:
Unauthenticated access should be stopped from the server side; however, the app design must have input validation controls and checks to minimise the workload by the server.
The input data must be properly checked, and any unauthorised activity should be stopped before it processes the server.
One can allow the required input data, and the rest of the data would be kept blocked from the app side.
This could take place by applying encryption for sending and receiving data from both the server side and the app side.
Insufficient Authorization/Authentication
Insufficient authorisation takes place when an application can not perform complete authorisation checks to make sure that the user is able to access the data or perform functions in a consistent manner as per the security policy.
Ideally, the procedure should be able to enforce what a service, user or application is allowed to do. Although, this does not imply that a user has access to all the content and functionalities.
Binary protection:
Rooting a device is a way to protect data on the system. When a device is rooted, harmful codes will affect the device as it is not secure.
This can alter the behaviour of the application. For reference, data forensic and recovery tools usually run on rooted devices.
Keeping security in mind, it is recommended not to have the app run on jailbroken or rooted devices or do some form of root/jailbreak detection.
Insufficient Transport Layer Protection:
Applications usually skip encrypting network traffic when it is important to protect sensitive communications.
Encryptions should be used for each and every authenticated connection, especially internet-accessible web pages.
Backend connections should also be encrypted because a backend connection might represent a lower risk of compromise in security than an external internet connection.
To conclude, while operating and working on crucial data, encryption is a must. Applications without encryption can be compromised in terms of security and will be prone to attacks.
Ineffective Session Handling
The sessions in mobile applications are longer than those in web applications. This can ensure a smooth user experience and sales, particularly in the eCommerce domain.
In case the phone gets stolen, and the session does not expire, the critical information can be easily accessed, in turn, compromising app security.
This can be solved by integrating reauthentication techniques by prompting the user to log in again for identity confirmation.
Conclusion:
So that is all. We have almost covered most of the important parts of mobile code vulnerabilities. We hope that this list of all the vulnerabilities can help you eliminate the problematic scenarios during the app development process. Considering the information provided here, try addressing them beforehand and eliminate them.
Author Bio:
A Raza Noorani is the CEO of Impero IT Services, – A top-notch mobile app development company offering a wide range of services to help businesses, entrepreneurs, and startups to get their app development idea into reality. In his spare time, Raza likes to write an article on different aspects of app development.