How App Protector prevents mobile app attacks?

Mobile app security is one of the most important aspects and features that one app must have. It protects the app from mobile app attacks such as hackers or malware. In the digital world we live in, it becomes a necessity to be aware of common app security problems and ways how to protect your app.

Users engage in various activities on their phones on a daily basis - exchanging messages, personal and financial information, and much more. Their expectation from application owners is to test their applications, prevent mobile app attacks, and ensure that end-user information is safe. Mobile app security is one of the most important aspects and features that one app must have. It protects the app from external threats such as hackers or malware. In the digital world we live in, it becomes a necessity to be aware of common app security problems and ways how to protect your app. 

Common threats in Mobile App Security 

 Most of the time, application owners are rushing to launch it on the market, disregarding some key aspects of the application's security implementations. Once the application is available to download after the release, anyone, including hackers, has access to the application and to its code. If the application is not secure enough, hackers can scan the application and see vulnerabilities within the application's code. Additionally, the application can be subject to disassembly or decompiling app, which allows malicious people or groups to tamper with the application or insert themselves in the communication between the app and the organization's server to collect valuable information. 

Mobile app security threats

If your application is not protected, it is sensitive to reverse engineering and exploitation.  To protect your application, here are some of the most common mobile security threats that you should be aware of: 

• Sensitive data is not encrypted: Sometimes app data can be saved in the local file system or device’s storage. That data does not have encryption, so developers must know not to save any important information there. IOS uses Keychain, a secure mechanism for saving passwords and sensitive information, and Android uses Keystore to securely keep your keys to decrypt sensitive data. 
• Operating systems have their vulnerabilities; Attackers are always on the lookout for possible loopholes in operating systems so that they can exploit them.  That is why it is essential to update your operating system regularly. 
• Hackers can reverse engineer your app; Reverse engineering means looking at a program or a system from the outside to inside to understand how it works. One popular technique is app disassembly which can reveal application flow, algorithms used, or resources embedded in the application. 
  These tools help attackers understand how the application works and where are possible vulnerabilities. 
• Your device could be compromised; Both iPhones and Androids can be compromised if their owners decide to jailbreak them or root, respectively. Having a compromised phone puts your mobile device at high risk since security measures by apple/android can easily be removed. Furthermore, since your security walls are down, installing apps that don’t come from a secure source is easier. These apps can be exact copies of the original application. However they have injected code that can compromise your data or manipulate application flow to steal your data. 

Security best practices against mobile app attacks

Some key parts of mobile app security are:  

• Obfuscate your source code to make it harder for hackers to reverse engineer your app. 
• Use the latest recommended cryptography techniques.  
• Secure your app with a backend server that also has protective measures in place.
• Do Penetration Testing – An excellent option for organizations is to have their applications pen tested by professionals. They will provide a report of loopholes in your applications; and you will be able to make corrections to secure your app better. 
• Have runtime security in place. 
• Make sure to use secure communication protocols such as HTTPS so that communication interception is less likely to occur. 

What makes App Protector different? 

It would take developers a lot of time to research, implement and test all possible threats and mitigations on their own. ASEE offers App Protector that developers can integrate into the application to ensure app protection at runtime, used on Android and iOS platforms. An additional product component is the App Protector Portal, a web-based portal with several key highlights. The first one is that it allows a detailed analysis of current threats in a modern UI while keeping all the relevant data clearly stated. The second one is the dynamic configuration of App Protector that can change depending on the attacks. This second highlight enables ease of configuration change which saves time and response time in case an urgent change in configuration is necessary. 

The App Protector  ensures safe communication between servers and applications, exchanging information about detected threats such as: 

• Jailbreak/Root device detection 
• Debugging 
• Hooking 
• Screen recording 
• Emulators/simulators 

If you want to protect your applications and; not less important, end-users of your applications, App Protector should be one of the key components of your apps.  

Download App Protector SDK

App Protector SDK is a mobile security component built into the application's code enabling runtime protection as well as a variety of mobile application hardening techniques, including jailbreak detection.

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To find out more about our App Protector solution, contact us or visit our blog section.