With the increase in security threats, mobile application security testing has become a priority for organizations. Security testing helps in the delivery of highly secured and optimally functioning mobile apps to provide a better user experience. Mobile app security testing helps in identifying the existing loophole in the application to prevent potential attacks or threats from the external systems.
Benefits of Mobile Application Security Testing
Apart from uncovering the security vulnerabilities, mobile application security testing offers a number of benefits. Some of the significant benefits are:
1. Initiates the Required Change in Architecture
Mobile application security testing allows for discovering the potential security vulnerabilities that may result in significant security breaches in the future. Having an idea of the flaws enables the developers to change the design, architecture, and code of the mobile app. Fixing all the potential issues at an early stage not only saves costs but allows the launch of a flawless mobile application.
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2. Prevent Future Attacks
Anticipating future attacks is important in order to mitigate potential risks. During mobile application security testing, the testers employ sophisticated tools and identify the flaws in the mobile app codes. They are also able to understand the behavior of attackers or hackers. This enables them to fix all the flaws and prevent hackers from exploiting the mobile apps in the future.
3. Meet Security Standards
In order to provide reliability to the users, it is important to meet the security standards of the industry. Mobile app security testing helps in meeting all the security standards and ensures optimum compliance with the industry regulations.
Mobile Application Security Testing Challenges
There are a number of challenges that may arise during mobile application security testing. Some of them are:
1. App Integration
One of the major security challenges occurs during the integration of the mobile app with other applications. While performing the integration testing, it is important to consider that there is no data leakage during the movement of information from one app to the other. Isolating and preventing data can help in eliminating this problem. Moreover, structure and environment inconsistency may even lead to security breaches. Conducting mobile application security testing on different operating systems can help in tackling this problem effectively.
2. Security Breaches Leading to Malware Installation
Security breaches in mobile applications often lead to the installation of malware on user devices. This malicious software can cause damage and affect the security of the information stored in the devices of the user.
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3. Unsecured Communication
Most mobile apps encrypt the messages only between the users, thereby allowing the app providers and other third parties to access the information easily. This again results in a security breach of the mobile apps. However, end-to-end encryption is the ideal solution to overcome this problem.
4. Testing Hidden Parts
There are a number of hidden parameters of mobile applications that can lead to security vulnerabilities. These hidden parameters can allow the attackers to collect your confidential information much easier, resulting in data loss. Writing test cases and testing the hidden parameters is important to uncover potential security vulnerabilities.
Important Security Requirements of Mobile Application
While there are a number of security risks related to mobile applications, developing apps that meet all the essential security requirements can help overcome potential issues. The important security requirements of mobile apps are:
1. Integrity
Integrity means preventing the modification of information by unauthorized parties. It ensures that the receiver gets unaltered information in its original form. The integrity of mobile apps can be maintained by employing integrity as well as confidentiality schemes.
2. Authorization
Authorization provides the users with the authority to perform different actions on mobile apps without the need for any request. However, when the users are able to perform the actions that they are not authorized to, it can be a potential bug.
3. Confidentiality
Confidentiality is an important requirement of the mobile apps. The apps must ensure that no information is disclosed to other parties except the receiver. End-to-end encryption proves to be an effective solution to prevent the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information.
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4. Availability
The availability of information at the right time for the users is important. This requires the mobile applications to provide reliable and fast ways of providing resources to the users at the right time.
5. Authentication
Proving the trustworthiness of the mobile app as well as the identity of the authorized users has become an essential need in the present day. With proper authentication, identifying the authenticity of the source as well as the app becomes easy.
6. Non-Repudiation
Non-repudiation ensures optimum tracing of the information being sent or received through the mobile apps. It helps in avoiding security breaches and ensures the accountability of the sender and receiver.
Wrapping Up
Mobile application security testing must be a top priority for every organization. Performing security testing helps in making the mobile app free from all the security loopholes and offer enhanced user experiences.
