We use mobile apps to help us with virtually every aspect of our lives — calling a cab, keeping in touch with friends and family, staying up-to-date on current events, and even to deliver our groceries. Many of us also use mobile apps for banking and financial transactions, and we store credit card details and other personal information on our mobile phones. This is where security concerns rear their ugly head. While thousands of new apps are developed every day, we also see the daily reports of security and privacy breaches. So how do we best address valid security concerns for mobile apps?
Developing secure apps from the ground up
Businesses creating mobile apps should aim to integrate security processes right from the beginning of the app development process. If they plan the app with security in mind right from the start, it will make it easier down the line to build additional features onto the app and to deploy it without security fears.
As they’re building and designing the app, developers should look out for bugs and other issues that may have cropped up in the source code. To do this, they can use automated tools to root out issues. These tools will help them look for security vulnerabilities, and find and root out any bugs.
Testing to ensure app security
Once the app is developed, it’s important to test it from many different security aspects. While one report showed that data security is the dominant mobility-related concern, only 32 percent of survey respondents said that they have conducted a security audit of applications touched by mobile devices. Quite simply, you have to be sure that the app is free from any security issues, so testing the app for security is fundamental.
Security testing should include multiple services. One of them is security auditing, in which the app is scanned by outside tools to detect any security issues and vulnerabilities. Another way to ensure app security is through using vulnerability scanning. A vulnerability scanner is a software program designed to inspect applications for any security vulnerabilities and architectural weaknesses.
While mobile app security is a daunting issue, it’s a problem that can be fixed with the proper development of secure apps from the ground up, as well as testing to ensure that apps are completely secure once they’ve been developed. With the availability of robust development services and app testing software, there is no longer an excuse for mobile apps to have serious security issues. This means that enterprises and consumers alike will feel more safe and comfortable using apps even for security-sensitive activities, such as mobile transactions and banking. Ensuring mobile app security is a must-have, it’s good for business and good for the customer. And it needs to get to the top of the priority list immediately.
Find out more about how Apexon can help you ensure that your apps are the most secure on the market through mobile strategy, application development and mobile testing.