The number of people who use mobile phones has dramatically increased, and unsurprisingly, enterprise mobility has grown in size and stature. With enterprise mobility becoming the next big technological spend, mobile security remains one of the thorny issues for most clients and vendors. Mobile app security, which is even less discussed, has been described by some pundits as ‘Wild West’.
To look at some facts that are disturbing, almost all apps available on Google Play for the Android platform were hacked at least once. 56% Apple’s iOS apps were hacked. The proportion of free apps that were hacked was marginally lower. This just means, apps are not as secure as most people believe them to be, especially if they have not been developed by reputed technology companies.
With BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) being the policy in place, app security is a very important issue that needs to be taken seriously. Let us take a look at some of the things that can be done to keep data and devices safe, especially when an app is compromised. In the best case scenario, the app should be impenetrable but one must always be extra cautious.
[php snippet=1]
How to ensure app security?
The first step should be to secure the app’s code. Mobile malware usually look for vulnerabilities within an app to gain access. A recent report revealed that more than 11.6% mobile devices are infected by malware at any given point. However, there are many tools that can help developers to detect vulnerabilities and seal security loopholes.
While business apps pose less of a problem, consumer apps may have more vulnerabilities. The next step would be to secure the devices. You need to bring in policies that will ensure that jailbroken devices are not used at work.
Thirdly, data needs to be secured. moving all data to the cloud is actually a good idea, with mobility becoming the new reality.It helps to keep data safe on a third party server where it might be encrypted. Remote wipe facilities can ensure that data is erased before a device gets into wrong hands.
Last but not the least, security needs to be ensured while people make purchases on apps. Apps provide a very convenient platform for e-commerce but they also pose security threats. All these can be overcome when developers take the necessary actions.
Threats present developers with an opportunity
The more enterprises move towards mobility, the more they will have to start thinking about app security. Applications are not always secure and they can pose a mighty challenge to developers to keep them safe from malicious threats. This is also an opportunity for coders to come together and bring solutions that do not have loopholes.
While it is indeed a wild world out there, it presents developers with an opportunity to push limits to make applications secure. Mobile and cloud security is already very impressive, if we are talking about premium services. Yet, it is necessary to use these threats as opportunities to make things safer for users.
