Quality Assurance

Mobile App Security

• General overview of mobile security

• Common threats and vulnerabilities

• Mobile security testing tools

• Standards and best practices

AGENDA

General overview of mobile securit

Personal Privacy:
Mobile devices often store sensitive personal information, such as contacts, messages, photos, and banking details.

Business Security:
Employees use mobile devices to access company data, emails, and applications, making them targets for corporate espionage.

Operational Continuity:
Ensuring mobile security helps maintain the normal functioning of business operations and services.

Mobile security protects smartphones, tablets, and other portable computing devices from threats and vulnerabilities.

Data at Rest

Implement robust encryption techniques to protect data stored on the device.

Data in Transit

Use secure communication protocols to ensure the confidentiality of data exchanged with the app.

Key Management

Properly manage and store encryption keys to prevent unauthorized access to protected data.

• Static Analysis Tools:

  Analyze the source code or binary without executing the program, identifying vulnerabilities and insecure coding practices.
  • Checkmarx: A widely used static analysis tool that helps developers find and fix security vulnerabilities in the source code.
  • MobSF (Mobile Security Framework): An open-source tool that performs static analysis, dynamic analysis, malware analysis, and web API testing.

• Dynamic Analysis Tools:

  Involves testing the application in a runtime environment to observe its behavior and detect vulnerabilities that only manifest during execution.
  • Burp Suite: A comprehensive platform for web and mobile app security testing, offering tools for crawling, scanning, and exploiting web and mobile app vulnerabilities.
  • OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy): A popular open-source tool for finding security vulnerabilities in web applications, including mobile web components.

• Network Analysis Tools:

  Tools that monitor, analyze, and secure the network traffic to and from the mobile device, ensuring data is not exposed to unauthorized parties.
  • tcpdump: A command-line packet analyzer that allows you to capture and analyze network traffic to find vulnerabilities and malicious activities.
  • Wireshark: A network protocol analyzer that captures and analyzes packets in real-time, helping to identify insecure data transmission and potential attacks.

• Penetration Testing Tools:

  Tools used to simulate attacks on a mobile application, identifying vulnerabilities by attempting to exploit them, similar to how a real attacker might.
  • Drozer: A security testing framework for Android that helps assess the security posture of Android applications.
  • Metasploit: A powerful penetration testing tool that enables security professionals to perform security assessments and exploit vulnerabilities in mobile apps and networks.

Standards and best practices are essential for ensuring the security of mobile applications. Each row highlights critical components of mobile security, tools required, compliance standards, testing methods, the risks mitigated, and the role of user awareness.

• Use Strong Authentication
  Implement two-factor authentication to enhance security for user accounts and protect sensitive data from unauthorized access by malicious actors.

• Encrypt Sensitive Data
  Utilize end-to-end encryption for both data in transit and at rest to prevent unauthorized access and ensure the integrity of user information.

• Regularly Update SDKs
  Stay up-to-date with the latest software development kits and libraries to address security vulnerabilities and enhancements provided by developers.

• Conduct Code Reviews
  Perform thorough code reviews and static analysis to identify potential security flaws and vulnerabilities in the application before deployment.

• Implement Security Testing
  Carry out regular security testing, including penetration testing, to identify potential threats and weaknesses in the mobile application environment.

 Future Trends in Mobile App Security