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Mobile phones have become part and parcel of everyone’s life. There is almost no work without using mobile phones. From everyday random checking, banking, online shopping, fitness level checking, health apps, water drinking apps, even working remotely and many more.
So, using mobile phones for all activities is a multitude of mobile applications which include mobile software, API software. However, with the increasing usage of mobile phones, there are also increased threats.
Carrying all the valuable information on your mobiles phones, it has become a must to secure mobile application. In this article, we will discuss some top mobile applications security measures to protect you from any sort of cyber-attacks or data stealing.
1. Include SSL Certification:
In today’s smart generation, we use mobile applications for each and everything. The mobile app security is the primary focus for all mobile software developers. Most of the valuable data exist on mobile devices, so there are more chances of hacking. Well, to avoid such mishaps you should install an SSL Certificate.
According to recent studies, on an average 70 percent of mobile applications are prone to cyber-attacks. It is easy for cyber criminals to attack mobile applications with low security. Thus, an SSL certificate is an essential criterion for improving mobile applications security.
2. API Authentication:
Always include API authentication in the mobile app development stage. is a process in which the credentials are sent to the remote access server in an encrypted format. However, all the API’s are not authentic and sometimes will bounce back with the corrupted file format. This will be easy for hackers to steal the data. Henceforth, it is always important to deploy API provides security for mobile applications.
3. Invest in Code Signing Certificate:
To be extra safer invest in a good code sign certificate for mobile apps. To be clear, code signing certificates are generally used by software code developers. Code signing certificates are used to validate the digitally signed applications for software coding and hardware drivers.
This code signing certificate allows the end users to ensure that the code received is genuine and is not compromised by any third party. However, you can rest assured as these code signing certificates include the company name, signature and also the timestamp.
4. Choose a reliable third-party license:
As androids have Google play apps and an Apple iPhone has Apple app store, we still rely on some third-party license applications to download the required mobile apps which are however not regulated by the mobile brand provider.
Having said that, a third-party license is in high usage. Most of the times, there is no problem downloading from these apps. Sometimes, there are code errors which creep in while downloading from the third-party applications.
The most effective ways to improve mobile applications security is to make sure that app code developers practice the control policies while purchasing to secure the mobile apps from all the liabilities in the libraries.
5. Multi-factor Authentication:
As we all are aware that most of the data breaches happen due to low-level security setup. It is very easy for hackers to hack into accounts with no strong authentication.
Therefore, there is a responsibility on a mobile app software developer to support usernames, 8 character passwords to login to account. Apart from the characters, if users use a hash sign along with numerals, lower and upper case is the perfect example for the strong password.
Besides, multi-level authentication is the safest bet for mobile app security. Make sure that the passwords should be regularly changed to avoid any cyber-attacks.
6. Handle session carefully:
Handling the sessions is a crucial part of setting up mobile app security. However, the sessions are a little longer than regular desktop session management.
So, the cyber attackers take this gap as their assert and try to hack your mobile software. Thus, the software code developers should consider tokens in session handling than the identifiers. This is the best way to stop mobile app hacking to some extent.
7. Update security patches:
Outdated security patches are the main reason for mobile apps security breaches. Regular updating of security patches and also software update patches will reduce the situations of cybercrimes.
8. Principle of least privileges:
Mobile app security developers should take care of one thing that it should not give permissions to each and every code. The code developers should need to give the least privilege for any kind of modifications in the apps.
Also, do not ask for much information or unnecessary information for your mobile apps as hackers will have a chance to hack your mobile applications. Principle of least privilege (PoLP) is recognized as the vital step in enhancing the data protection and also stopping any malicious virus. Hence, if there is a limitation for the scope of changes in the code in the mobile apps then it is easy to make other running apps more interactive and effective.
To put in an example, if a user or an operator has only the least privilege to perform only the intended task. A user whose job is to perform backups on a daily basis cannot interfere with other tasks such as installing new software, updating the software. He has rights only set up a backup and backup related tasks, other privileges are strictly prohibited.
9. Tamper- detection technology:
To secure the mobile applications tamper detection technology is a preventive measure to make sure that no third party is involved with tampering your applications, renaming your applications or even recompiling them without your consent.
However, always verify the authenticity of tamper detection tools before installing them on your mobile. There are many fraud tools which claim that they are original ones. This is why check for authentication check mark before going for one.
10. Recognize anonymous threats:
No matter how many measures you take to protect the data, hackers will find a way out for data stealing. There are many free security applications available to recognize any cyber threats. But, open web application security project is considered as the best for this purpose.
Unknowingly if you install or download such virus, there will be a drastic drop in the mobile device performance, the applications slow down and also hangs while working. Besides following these steps, users also must be aware and take a little effort to secure their mobile phones and mobile app security for their personal information.
The Bottom Line
Over the last few years, the rate of cyber-crimes has increased enormously. So, there is a growing necessity to protect and make the users aware of mobile applications security.
By following the above-discussed tips, you can control the hacking situations to a great extent.
Do write to us if you have any query. As a top app development company of 2020 we will try our best to guide you.
