Mobile applications have revolutionized the way we consume information. Nowadays, most organizations leverage these powerful tools to enhance their employees’ agility with services that are available 24/7. But granting applications access to highly sensitive corporate data also widens the mobile attack surface, which is why it’s crucial to not overlook the associated application security threats.
Mobile Apps Complicate the Data Privacy Picture
A mobile application is like an iceberg; most of its behaviors are executed silently. On one hand, it can be inherently malicious and feature malware that, when hosted on a device, targets the user’s data, credentials, transactions and more. These behaviors are mostly found in applications available on third-party stores, but sometimes also in major commercial app stores. In 2019, Pradeo Lab discovered that 5 percent of Android and 2 percent of iOS apps hosted malicious programs.
On the other hand, a mobile application doesn’t need to be malicious to hurt collaborators’ privacy. Greyware is a category of application that comprises intrusive apps that exfiltrate user data to the network (67 percent of Android apps and 61 percent of iOS apps) as well as vulnerable apps developed without following security best practices (61 percent of Android apps).
Either way, mobile apps have the power to severely compromise corporate data privacy. Today, security heads are stuck with the major challenge of complying with data privacy laws and enhancing user productivity while preserving their agility.
Shed Light on Mobile Application Security Threats in Your Network
Organizations that distribute mobile apps are encouraged — and required by law in some industries — to diagnose their security levels prior to release. To shed light on all aspects of a mobile app, it is necessary to audit it with a mobile application security testing (MAST) tool. MAST solutions perform multidimensional analyses (static and dynamic) that allow security teams to detect all app behaviors and vulnerabilities. This way, organizations can ensure that the apps they are about to release do not threaten the privacy of any corporate or personal data. If they do, this process will help the relevant parties repackage them.
MAST solutions are available as software-as-a-service (SaaS) and sometimes as an application programming interface (API) to integrate within developers’ environments. In addition, some unified endpoint management (UEM) solutions are starting to integrate this kind of service within their platform to facilitate security heads’ experience.
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Chief Technical Officer, Pradeo