Use of smart phones and tablet PCs have become quite common nowadays. Taking advantage of this fact, several companies and organizations, particularly those involved in E-commerce are developing mobile applications through which customers can easily avail their services. While mobile apps make it easier for users to carry out tasks such as online shopping and ticket booking, these area are also at the risk of being misused by hackers. These apps can be used to access corporate data and business secrets. This in turn can result in major losses if ignored. To avoid such problems, organizations need to follow an annual security routine for every app they develop.
Cyber crime threatens the security of mobile applications. It is thus important to assess the security of these applications on a regular basis and make required changes in them.
Some common vulnerabilities in mobile applications are as follows:
Planning:
In this phase, organizations devise a detailed plan for mobile application security audit. Developers make sure that the mobile application function properly and do not have any vulnerabilities. Bases on performance, the application is either approved or rejected. Apart from application assurance, risk assessment also is a part of this phase. It analyzes the impact of this application on data, network and other resources of the organization. Following are the important steps involved in planning process:
Above mentioned steps are crucial for mobile applications annual security.
Testing Mobile Application
Once the planning phase is complete, application is sent for testing. Weaknesses in the application are figured out and eliminated in this phase. Here are the major steps involved in testing:
Cyber crime threatens the security of mobile applications. It is thus important to assess the security of these applications on a regular basis and make required changes in them.
Some common vulnerabilities in mobile applications are as follows:
- Too many persons having permissions to access the application
- Internal or external communications exposed
- Unwanted features in functionality of the application
- Ability of the application to retrieve unwanted data
- Presence of external libraries or additional functionality that is hidden from users
- Privacy issues such as lack of password authentication
Planning:
In this phase, organizations devise a detailed plan for mobile application security audit. Developers make sure that the mobile application function properly and do not have any vulnerabilities. Bases on performance, the application is either approved or rejected. Apart from application assurance, risk assessment also is a part of this phase. It analyzes the impact of this application on data, network and other resources of the organization. Following are the important steps involved in planning process:
- Determining security needs for the organization
- Defining the constraints in testing process
- Forming team that can take responsibility of testing the application
- Deciding the budget for application testing
Above mentioned steps are crucial for mobile applications annual security.
Testing Mobile Application
Once the planning phase is complete, application is sent for testing. Weaknesses in the application are figured out and eliminated in this phase. Here are the major steps involved in testing:
- Authorized functionality is enabled. This helps to make sure that the app works exactly like it is supposed to.
- Functionality of the app should be accessible only to authenticated users. Hence, unauthorized functionality is eliminated.