8 Tips to Incorporate Top-Grade Security in Mobile Apps
There are over 1.96 million apps available for download on the Play store today. Have you paid attention to the fact how much our day-to-day tasks depend on these apps? Imagine a day without apps you use to carry out your work-related tasks.
But, despite their need, do we trust and keep every app we download? No, we don’t. Because even a non-techie person is aware of the security concerns discussed related to mobile apps. Every now and then a tech company is sued over a security breach.
So, for developers, it’s extremely important to create secure apps -- apps that people can trust to protect their personal information.
Below, you can find seven useful tips to equip your apps with top-grade security and make them impenetrable!
8 Tips to Create Secure Mobile Apps
1. Emphasize on Code Security
Nowadays managers and team lead focus on the pace of work. They develop and test, and at some point, are bound to make errors. To create secure apps, one should find all the loopholes and seal every door that a third party can penetrate and steal confidential user data.
Remove all the bugs from the code. A hacker can reverse engineer your code and temper it. According to research, malicious data is responsible for affecting more than 11 million mobile devices.
To prevent this issue, obfuscate and minify your code. Rigorous testing is needed -- which is obviously time taking -- to find undiscovered bugs and fix them.
2. Don’t Trust Any Random Library
No doubt libraries make a developer’s job easy. But they can escalate your security-related problems if you use any library that you believe will simplify your job.
The best practice is to test a third-party library or code before integrating it with your code. And if you’re really proficient in your craft, minimize the use of third-party libraries in your app.
When you have no option but to use them, be cautious. Handle them with care. Create a policy regarding which platforms are secure to procure those libraries and which platforms are vulnerable to security problems.
3. Keep Platform-Specific Limitations in Mind
Cross-platform applications have become quite popular lately. A single code-base for all devices not only saves you a few bucks in production but maintenance and update also become relatively simple.
But when it comes to performance, native apps remain ahead of the cross-platform one.
Consider the platform specifications during the app development process and incorporate the relevant security features according to the limitations of the platform.
The best practice is to take different scenarios, encryption support, password support, and geo-location data support into account. And accordingly include the security features in your app.
4. Keep an Eye for Unintended Data Leakage
Data leakages when going undetected cause irreparable damage. It happens when a user submits any personal information to the app on a caveat that the app owner won’t share it with a third party.
This creates an opportunity for malicious sources to steal data. One way to stall their efforts is implementing advertising and using secure analytics providers.
5. Don’t Keep Sensitive Data
Why keep sensitive data in your app in the first place? No matter how tight the security is, you are better off minimizing the data stored in the application. Make provisions to separate confidential user data from ordinary data so it’s never stored in a device or on a server.
With constantly evolving security threats, it’s harder than ever before to protect data. For 100% safety, the best practice is to keep confidential data at bay. In case you still need it in the app, use encrypted data containers or key chains and minimize dependency on logs.
6. Use Strict Authentication Procedure
It’s beyond one's imagination the number of security breaches that take place due to weak authentication. Even the most proficient developers are prone to ignoring this aspect of security.
To protect passwords and penetration through weak passwords, use dual-factor authentication, and retina and fingerprint scanning to detect any suspicious login attempts.
7. Secure the Server
Despite the tight security system, servers are vulnerable to hackers’ attacks. A hacker tries to attract the API of the server to penetrate your application. Thus, securing your server and API is equally important.
You can add a firewall to combat this challenge.
8. Integrate Anti-tamper Mechanisms
During the development process, you can integrate an anti-tamper mechanism so your code remains safe at all costs. This mechanism usually includes signature verification, anti-virus, and activity logs.
This way you will be able to detect infected libraries that are part of your code.
Conclusion
As an app development company in Dubai, we understand the importance of app security. A small loophole in the security can leave our client in big trouble. So our team of iOS and Android developers have to be really careful and test rigorously to detect security-related issues.
By following the above-mentioned tips, you can minimize this threat to a great extent and make all your apps super secure.
