Best Solutions and Practices Followed By Business for Mobile Application Security

For the businesses of modern era, use of an application is much common and necessary. One who has an app can surely get more customers from different classes and regions compared to those who don’t have such app. It is an easy way to connect to others and attract them for specific purpose which may be a business also. For every maker the security of app is of highest importance as it can prove as a business puller for it. 

The use of mobile has become a part of our life because the world is becoming digitalized. The process of digitalization and advancement of technology has made the use of mobile a need of every person as well as of the business sector. The mobile has enhanced features and data storing capacity with applications. These mobile applications give us the facility to access various services and easily store data. But with every pros comes the cons of everything. Similarly the mobile application is prone to risk from digital threats like hackers and malware. The need is to protect the mobile application by providing security to them through various ways. Mobile Application security is the measure and means through which the mobile device apps can be defended or protected against digital fraud in the form of hacking, malware and other criminal manipulation. To safeguard digital integrity on mobile devices, mobile app security can be implemented. The security can be executed by both technological means through personal responses and also through various corporate processes.

Best Practices for Mobile App Security: The best practice of mobile application security is to ensure that the application becomes free from any risk and must not disclose the user’s personal information in any way. The developers must ensure before the app is uploaded for public consumption that all security checks are performed and are up to the mark. The developer should make sure that the methods listed are considered and business apps are not at threat to any unauthorized access by any illegal methods.

• Enhance Security of Data: Various guidelines and policies should be established by data security to ensure that the users of the app can easily avoid getting caught in the trap of hackers. The security measure included has well implemented data encryption while the information is transferred between devices, using security tools and firewall whenever necessary. Guidelines for mobile app security are laid down for iOS and Android users. 
• Enforce Session Logout: It generally happens that the users often forget to logout form the app or website they are using. If the app that is being used is a banking app or any other payment app with the personal banking details of the user, it can be harmful. Therefore the banking apps or payment apps end the session of a user, after a certain time period of inactivity. These apps can also ends the session on every logout for increased safety. The developers need to enforce a session logout for all business centric as well as consumer centric app, even if the developer considers their users highly literate.
• Consulting Security Experts: Every business tries to secure the applications in a best way by putting up experienced internal security teams but still an external view point on the apps always gives a different perception. The business can deploy several security companies to identify the loopholes and reducing the chances of getting it compromised. The companies can encourage their application development team to get the features related to security assessed by third party service providers for added benefits and security. This step helps the business to get much secured applications and also give their clients a safe platform.
• No saving of passwords: To prevent users repeatedly entering the credentials of login, some apps request the users to save password. If mobile theft occurs, these passwords can be hacked and access to personal information becomes easy. On the other hand, if password is not in an encrypted format, the chances of access to the information and app become easy. The developers of application should prevent the users from saving passwords on the mobile devices. The password can be saved securely on the app server, so that if any mobile theft occurs, the user can change them by logging on the server from any device.
• Enforcing Multi-Factor Authentication: This feature of Multi-Factor Authentication gives additional security to a user login into an app. This added feature covers up the weak password than a hacker can easily guess and compromise the security of an app. Multi-Factor Authentication is in the form of a secret code that needs to be entered together with the password to login into the device or app.  The code is send to the user through SMS, email, biometric method or Google Authenticator. If Multi-Factor Authentication process is not enforced on the app, the hacker can easily guess the weak passwords of the user. 
• Penetration Testing: In order to get aware of the vulnerabilities in an app Penetration Testing is done by the firms. The focus is to find any potential weakness that can be attacked and manipulated by the hacker further compromise the security of the final application. It involves checking of unencrypted data, weak password policy, no password expiry protocol, permissions to third party apps etc. By creating a drill or recreating the acts of potential hacker, the weakness in the app can be detected by the security team. To keep the app secure it becomes is proposed that penetration testing is performed on regular basis. The steps of penetration testing involves Pre-test, Testing, Reporting and final review. 
• Prevent the use of Personal Devices: Many companies prefer to ask their employees to bring their own personal devices to office like their own laptops or smart devices for development, in order to reduce their overhead cost of buying systems. This may lead the network of the company open to a ton of infections that might have been gathered on the device of employees.