Mobile app security testing is an essential part of any mobile app development process. After all, users entrust apps with personal information, financial data, and other sensitive details. When an app fails to protect its users’ data, it can have devastating consequences. We’ve already seen the negative effects of unsecure mobile apps time and time again. Unfortunately, we are likely to see more of these types of breaches in the future. As the number of mobile apps continues to increase exponentially, it’s important that developers and companies take measures to keep their users safe from malicious hackers and cyber criminals. Penetration testing, also known as ethical hacking or red teaming, is one way that businesses test their own security to find potential vulnerabilities before they become a threat. If you are developing a new mobile app and want to ensure that it is secure from outside threats, follow these tips for conducting effective mobile app security tests from the initial development phase until final release.
Run Static Analysis Tests
A static analysis test is the most basic form of mobile app security testing. Using automated tools, a developer will scan the code to look for common language mistakes, syntax errors, and potential security issues. Static analysis software can catch problems such as unencrypted sensitive data, unauthenticated API calls, and other issues that could put your app and users at risk. Static analysis tools are usually very affordable, and can help you catch issues that could otherwise cause a major headache down the line when your app is in the hands of users.
Check for API vulnerabilities
Another important step in the mobile app security testing process is to check for API vulnerabilities. This test will help you make sure that you are using secure API endpoints with the correct authentication and authorization mechanisms. If you don’t take the time to properly test your APIs, your app’s data could be compromised. Conduct manual reviews of your backend APIs via a tool like Postman or a manual code review. Pay special attention to any authentication or authorization mechanisms. Are you using token-based authentication? If so, are the tokens being fully rotated? Are you using SSL/TLS? If so, are the certificates being rotated?
Perform Smarter Code Reviews
If you’re conducting code reviews while developing your app, that’s great, but make sure you’re doing it in a smarter way. Code reviews are an essential part of the mobile app security testing process, but they must be done in a smarter way. Many developers simply rely on eyeballs to review the code and look for issues. This isn’t enough. Today, many organizations are making use of static analysis tools to help improve the effectiveness of code reviews. With this approach, code is analyzed and then an automated report is generated for the reviewer to review.
Audit User Interactions
A thorough user interaction audit is also essential when conducting mobile app security testing. This is where you dig into your source code and find every single user interaction – from authentication to data storage to authorization. After you’ve documented all user interactions, you can then test those interactions using tools like Selenium and Appium (for iOS and Android) or open-source tools like Cucumber. This process will help you find potential holes in your mobile app security testing process. For example, you can look for functionality that allows users to enter unvalidated or unauthenticated data. What happens when someone enters invalid data? Do they receive an error message? What happens when a user attempts to log in with the wrong credentials? Do you enable a trace or error log?
Review Device and OS Compliance
Another important aspect of mobile app security testing is device and OS compliance. Essentially, you want to ensure that your app works properly across all device and OS combinations. Issues with device and OS compliance could result in poor user experience, data corruption, or even app crashes. Many organizations have adopted a “mobile first” approach where they design, develop, and test their apps for mobile devices first and then scale up for desktops. However, even if your business doesn’t approach mobile app development this way, you should still make sure your app is compliant for the devices and OSes that you are targeting. Test for device and OS compliance by creating a matrix that lists each device and OS combination and then testing your app against the matrix. Make sure your app functions properly on each device and OS combination.
Review Network Infrastructure Security
Finally, you should also conduct network infrastructure security tests to ensure that your network is secure, and that your data is properly encrypted and protected while in transit. You may think that your network is secure, but it’s important to test. When it comes to network security, follow these best practices: – Use HTTPS – Make sure your network traffic is encrypted with TLS or SSL. – Verify that your network infrastructure is PCI DSS compliant – Make sure your network and app are properly segmented for added security – Make sure you are not leaking sensitive data on the network Be sure to test all network endpoints to ensure that they are properly encrypted. If you are hosting your app in the cloud, be sure to test and validate your app against a valid SSL/TLS certificate. There are various options in the market where you can buy or renew cheap SSL certificate as per your requirements.
Conclusion
All of these tests are essential for ensuring that your mobile app is secure. However, it’s important to remember that security testing is not a one-and-done process. These tests should be conducted throughout the mobile app development process to ensure the app is always secure.
