Mobile app development is lucrative and exciting, but it comes with a few challenges. Chief among them is the need for robust security in applications. In this guide to achieving robust security in mobile app development, we’ll examine why this is important, how to do it yourself and how outsourcing can help you succeed.
Where do Security Breaches Occur in Mobile App Development?
If you’re tasked with developing a mobile app, you must understand where security breaches tend to occur in mobile app development. Mobile apps are vulnerable to many different types of attacks, including:
- Malware – Most malware attacks take place on the application layer but can occur at any point in the SDLC. These attacks usually involve infected links or code sent via SMS messages or email attachments.
- Hacking – It’s estimated that nearly 50% of all hacking attempts target applications because they contain sensitive information like account passwords and credit card numbers. Hacking attempts can also be used to steal personal data from user accounts or even prevent them from accessing their accounts altogether.
- Data Leakage – If a mobile app is not adequately secured against data leakage issues (such as SQL injection), attackers might be able to access sensitive information such as usernames and passwords without administrator privileges.
- Services Misconfiguration – Often without solid SCA tools, developers might not understand how to configure their services appropriately. This can lead to problems such as misconfigured authentication credentials, which could result in attackers gaining access to sensitive information.
What Are the Issues?
Security issues can be introduced at any stage of the development process. Even a tiny error in design or coding can significantly impact your business and users.
Even more concerning is that most security issues are not apparent at first glance. For example, you may have experienced an app or game bug that made it impossible to play without restarting your device multiple times. While this was annoying, it’s hard to imagine how this could impact anyone’s life besides yours. But what if that bug had accessed all of your private messages? Or even worse, could someone track where you were at all times using GPS location data?
These scenarios would be much more severe than the ones mentioned above because they involve sensitive information such as bank account numbers or social security numbers being exposed without consent or notification from the user (or their device).
How to Achieve Robust Security in Mobile App Development
The first step to achieving robust security in mobile app development is ensuring your software development lifecycle (SDLC) is robust.
The second step involves developing a secure architecture, which can be done by designing applications emphasizing security from the ground up. You can also implement specific architectural patterns that help mitigate common vulnerabilities and reduce the attack risk.
In addition, you must use encryption to protect data-at-rest and data-in-transit when it comes to mobile apps. This goes without saying: don’t forget about encryption!
If you’re building a secure code repository, you’ll want one that uses multi-factor authentication (MFA). Only those with access can pull down their code from the repository when needed–no exceptions!
MFA ensures that no one else but authorized users can view or edit their codebase; this makes for tighter control over versioning updates, so everyone’s always up-to-date with what’s happening in their company.
Why Outsource?
Finding the right people and in-house expertise to complete the task can be challenging if the task is too complex. For example, if you need a mobile app that encrypts user data before storing it on the device, you will likely not have a team member specializing in security. Instead of trying to manage an unfamiliar project internally, consider outsourcing your work.
There are many advantages to outsourcing:
- Reduce cost and risk: Outsourcing allows businesses with limited resources or time constraints to access more talent than they have internally. This allows them to reduce costs by hiring fewer employees while still having access to the necessary skills they need through outsourcing vendors. In addition, outsourcing can help businesses avoid unnecessary risks when dealing with complex development projects or new technology that internal staff members may not understand well.
- Access more talent: Outsourcing gives companies access to new markets and opportunities for growth that might not otherwise be available.
- Access more expertise: With access to new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and machine learning techniques, there is an increasing need for specialized skill sets and a general understanding of these topics within organizations.
- Increase productivity: If you already have all of your internal resources tied down working on another project or initiative, then this means there will be no capacity left over at any given point in time, which means everything else has been put off until later when those initial obligations are completed – meaning longer wait times between milestones being met/deliverables being delivered, etc.
Conclusion
We firmly believe that mobile app development is the future of digital business. However, it’s also important to remember that risks are always involved when dealing with sensitive information. This article has given you a thorough understanding of what makes up robust security in mobile app development and some best practices for achieving it yourself or outsourcing it to an expert provider.
