What is Mobile App Security Testing? How to perform?

As we tread a long way in this digitalized world, the journey is disrupted by a massive amount of security breaches. Though digital assets like the Internet, IoT, Smartphones, mobile, and web applications have connected the world and brought a large number of benefits to the table, these have also opened doors for extensive security risks. Moreover, hackers, cyber attackers, and criminals have nailed the game with advanced expertise in compromising security. Adding to the existing woes was the pandemic that increased the users’ inclinations toward digital resources. According to Statista reports, the number of detected malicious installation packages on mobile devices was approximately 886,105 in the second quarter of 2021. These rising numbers have necessitated mobile app security testing to ensure a safe digital experience for users.

Just last year, 2021, a massive security breach occurred where the Amazon Ring Neighbors App leaked the addresses and precise locations of users who posted to the app. While the posts are public, the app doesn’t display names or locations and includes video captured by Ring doorbells and security cameras. However, the bug was retrieving location data of users who posted on the app, including those reporting crimes such as user’s latitude, longitude, and home addresses from Ring’s servers. There have been many other major security breaches in the recent past, all of which command an increased focus on ensuring the security of apps we use.

Check out: Why is Automated Mobile Application Security Testing a Priority for Businesses?

What is Mobile App Security

Mobile app security involves measures developers take to protect mobile apps from threats that compromise the integrity of the app and its data. This includes safeguarding the app against malicious attacks, unauthorized access, and other security risks. Mobile app security involves a combination of secure coding practices, encryption, authentication, regular security testing, and staying updated with the latest security protocols.

What is Mobile App Security Testing

Mobile app security testing evaluates and analyzes mobile apps to locate potential security vulnerabilities. The goal is to ensure the app is resilient against various security threats and attacks. Security testing involves various techniques, including static and dynamic analysis, penetration testing, and vulnerability scanning. It helps developers identify and fix security issues before anyone can exploit them, ensuring the app remains secure throughout its lifecycle.

Security Testing for Agile/DevOps and DevSecOps

In Agile and DevOps environments, where CI/CD is essential, security testing must seamlessly integrate into the development and deployment pipelines. This approach, known as DevSecOps, ensures that security is a shared responsibility and is incorporated from the outset of the development process.

Security testing in Agile/DevOps involves:

• Automated Security Testing: Integrating automated security testing tools within the CI/CD pipeline to detect vulnerabilities early in the development cycle.
• Continuous Monitoring: Implementing continuous monitoring to identify and address security issues in real-time.
• Collaborative Security Practices: Encouraging collaboration between developers, operations, and security teams to foster a security-first mindset.
• Regular Security Assessments: Conducting regular security assessments and audits to ensure ongoing compliance.

Understanding Mobile App Security Issues: Android vs iOS

Mobile app security issues can vary significantly between Android and iOS platforms due to differences in their operating systems, development environments, and security models.

● Android Security Issues:

• Fragmentation: The various Android devices and OS versions can lead to inconsistencies in security updates and patches.
• Open Source Nature: While Android's open-source nature promotes innovation, it makes it easier for malicious actors to identify and exploit vulnerabilities.
• App Distribution: Multiple app stores increase the risk of distributing malicious apps.

● iOS Security Issues:

• Closed Ecosystem: iOS's closed ecosystem and stringent app review process offer a higher level of security but can also limit flexibility for developers.
• Jailbreaking: Users who jailbreak their devices expose them to increased security risks by bypassing Apple's built-in security measures.
• Security Updates: While Apple provides regular security updates, delays in updating devices can leave users vulnerable.

Understanding these differences can help developers tailor their security strategies accordingly and ensure robust protection for their mobile apps on both platforms.

Criteria For Mobile Application Security Testing

To ensure comprehensive security testing for mobile applications, it’s essential to consider various criteria that cover different aspects of the app. Here are key criteria to guide your mobile application security testing:

Data Protection:

• Data Storage: Ensure sensitive data is stored securely and not in plain text. Use encryption for data at rest.
• Data Transmission: Verify that data transmitted between the app and servers is encrypted using protocols like HTTPS or TLS.

Authentication and Authorization:

• User Authentication: Check the robustness of the authentication mechanisms. Ensure that multi-factor authentication (MFA) is available and enforced.
• Session Management: Validate that sessions, including secure session cookies, are properly managed and that sessions time out appropriately.

Input Validation:

• Injection Flaws: Test for vulnerabilities like SQL injection and command injection by validating all user inputs and using parameterized queries.
• Data Sanitization: Ensure all inputs are properly sanitized to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) and other injection attacks.

Cryptographic Practices:

• Encryption Algorithms: Verify the use of strong, industry-standard encryption algorithms for data encryption.
• Key Management: Check that cryptographic keys are stored and managed securely.

Network Security:

• Secure Communication: Ensure all communications are secured, especially over public networks. Use VPNs and other secure communication channels as necessary.
• Firewall and IDS/IPS: Implement and regularly update firewalls and intrusion detection/prevention systems to protect against unauthorized access.

Error Handling and Logging:

• Error Messages: Error messages must not expose sensitive information or application logic.
• Logging: Implement comprehensive logging for security events and ensure that logs are monitored and reviewed regularly.

Platform-Specific Security:

• OS Security Features: Utilize platform-specific security features such as Keychain on iOS and Keystore on Android.‍
• Permissions: Minimize app permissions to only what is necessary for functionality. Regularly review and update permissions.

Also check: Securing Your Digital Platform with Media and Entertainment App Testing

Benefits of Mobile App Security Testing

Ensuring robust security for mobile applications is imperative in today's digital age. Mobile app security testing provides numerous benefits crucial for protecting sensitive user data, maintaining user trust, and complying with regulatory standards. Here are some of the key benefits:

Protection of Sensitive Data:

Mobile apps often handle sensitive user information, such as personal details, financial data, and login credentials. Security testing helps identify and mitigate vulnerabilities that could lead to data breaches, ensuring this sensitive information remains secure.

Prevention of Financial Losses:

A security breach can cause financial losses, including fines, legal fees, and compensation to affected users. By proactively testing for security weaknesses, organizations can avoid these costly incidents and protect their financial interests.

Compliance with Regulatory Standards:

Various industries follow strict regulatory requirements regarding data protection and security. Mobile app security testing ensures that applications comply with these regulations, helping organizations avoid penalties and legal complications.

Enhancement of User Trust and Confidence:

Users are more likely to trust and continue using an application, prioritizing their security. Rigorous security testing can demonstrate a commitment to protecting user data and enhance user trust and confidence in the app.

Early Detection and Mitigation of Vulnerabilities:

Regular security testing enables early detection of potential vulnerabilities before malicious actors can exploit them. This proactive approach allows developers to address security issues promptly, reducing the risk of attacks.

Improvement of App Reputation:

A security breach can severely damage an app's reputation. Organizations can keep a positive reputation and attract users by ensuring robust security measures through testing.

Reduction of Downtime and Business Disruption:

Security incidents lead to downtime and disruption of business operations. Security testing helps prevent such incidents, ensuring smooth and uninterrupted app performance.

Types of security tests

To ensure comprehensive security coverage, performing various types of security tests throughout the mobile application development lifecycle is essential. Here are the key types of security tests:

Static Application Security Testing (SAST):

• Definition: SAST involves analyzing the app's source code or binary code without executing the program.
• Purpose: The goal is to identify vulnerabilities such as code injection, buffer overflows, and insecure coding practices early in development.
• Tools: Common SAST tools include SonarQube, Checkmarx, and Fortify Static Code Analyzer.
• Benefits: It allows developers to fix security issues before the code is compiled, reducing the cost and effort required to address vulnerabilities later.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST):

• Definition: DAST assesses the application while it is running to identify vulnerabilities that occur during execution.
• Purpose: This testing method helps find runtime issues such as authentication problems, server configuration errors, and other dynamic weaknesses.
• Tools: Popular DAST tools include OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite, and Acunetix.
• Benefits: DAST provides a real-world perspective on how an attacker might exploit vulnerabilities, offering valuable insights into the application's security posture.

Mobile App Penetration Testing:

• Definition: A comprehensive and manual approach where security professionals simulate real-world attacks on the application to uncover vulnerabilities.
• Purpose: Penetration testing aims to identify weaknesses in the app's defenses by mimicking the actions of a malicious hacker.
• Tools: While this is often a manual process, tools like Metasploit and Drozer can assist in testing.
• Benefits: This testing method thoroughly assesses the application's security, uncovering issues that automated tools might miss.

Network Security Testing:

• Definition: This testing focuses on the security of data transmission.
• Purpose: Network security testing of mobile apps ensures that data transmitted over networks is secure, preventing eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks.
• Tools: Tools like Wireshark, Tcpdump, and Fiddler are commonly used for network security testing of mobile apps.
• Benefits: It helps to verify that sensitive data is encrypted and that secure communication protocols (such as HTTPS) are properly implemented.

Read: Why should you invest in the Security Testing of Mobile Applications?

Best practices for security testing in mobile apps

Adhering to best practices in security testing of mobile apps can enhance the security posture of mobile apps. Here are detailed guidelines and practices to ensure robust security:

Adopt a Security-First Mindset:

• Integrate Security Early: Embed security practices from the initial stages of development to ensure a secure foundation. Use threat modeling to locate security threats and plan mitigations early.
• Shift Left: Incorporate security testing of mobile apps early in the development lifecycle (shift-left testing) to identify and fix vulnerabilities as soon as possible.

Regularly Update and Patch:

• Patch Management: Establish a systematic approach to manage updates and patches for all software components, including third-party libraries and frameworks.
• Stay Informed: Track security advisories and updates for all components used in the application and apply patches promptly.

Use Secure Coding Practices:

• Follow Standards: Adhere to secure coding standards such as OWASP Mobile Security Project and CERT Secure Coding Standards.
• Code Reviews: Conduct regular code reviews focusing on security, ensuring that secure coding practices are consistently followed.

Implement Strong Authentication and Authorization:

• Multi-Factor Authentication: Use multifactor authentication (MFA) to add a layer of security beyond passwords.‍
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Implement RBAC to ensure users have only the permissions necessary for their roles, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access.

The most common mobile app security threats

Discussing strategies and steps to test the security of mobile apps cannot be accomplished without understanding the existing types of security threats.

Below are some of the primary threats we witness in today’s digital landscape.

● Data theft

Data is one of the most significant assets for any business, and mobile apps’ biggest concern is leakage or theft of data. Whether through app permissions, credentials, or providing sensitive information, apps often store voluminous data without adequate security measures. For example, ‘riskware,’ a general concept referring to apps that transmit user data to remote servers where cyber attackers and criminals mine it, is a significant example of data theft.

● Session handling Issues

Generally, session tokens are utilized by mobile apps to allow users to perform the different functions without logging out of a session or re-authenticating. Nonetheless, when these session tokens are mishandled or accidentally shared with threat actors, it leads to inappropriate session handling, giving hackers a chance to impersonate the users and their data and information.

● Broken Cryptography

Broken cryptography or insecure usage leverage encryption. At first, the mobile app might use a process behind the encryption or decryption, which is fundamentally flawed or can be exploited by the adversary for decrypting sensitive data.

● Reverse Engineering

This is a typical security threat that occurs across mobile apps. This technique allows hackers and cybercriminals to obtain detailed knowledge about the application’s source code, algorithms, libraries, and other assets. This information is then leveraged to exploit the application’s inherent vulnerabilities and gain access to the back-end servers and proprietary and user information.

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Implementing mobile app security testing as a solution

Mobile app security testing is an effective solution that should be executed before launching the app for public use. This primarily comprises two processes:

Vulnerability assessment: This involves the evaluation of the app’s infrastructure and security mechanism for detecting possible risks and vulnerabilities in the app.

Penetration testing: This process exploits the vulnerabilities found in the vulnerability assessment to assess the scope of a possible hack through that vulnerability.

How to perform mobile app security testing: A brief approach

Defining the goal of security audit—

Security audits are vast and multi-purpose, which requires a proper understanding of the correct reason for performing the audit. Some of the most important goals of a mobile app security testing are:

• Checking if there is a security mechanism in place
• Checking the presence of the right configurations
• Checking if the application is tested in each stage and with multiple test cases
• Detecting and managing all threats and risks to the app
• Reviewing proper implementation of an authentication process
• Checking the implementation of secure data storing process

 Some high on priority security areas in a mobile app should include:

• Configurations
• Authentication and authorization
• App permissions
• Session and cookies
• Data storage

Threat analysis and modeling—

This includes four primary components:

• App architecture
• App resources
• Third-party interaction
• Threat agents

It is advisable to consider all the probable components and functionalities that can be a gateway for a hacker. After evaluating the high-priority areas, it is helpful to identify the potential security risks. For better outcomes, developing test cases on permutations of different app functions, OS, versions, and user roles and analyzing the app for those can be a fruitful practice. Tools like iMAS (iOS Mobile Application Security), Mobile Security Framework (MobSF), and Android Debug Bridge can help accelerate the threat analysis and modeling process.

Exploitation—

Once the team has identified or predicted the vulnerabilities that can threaten the app, it is essential to estimate the scope of these vulnerabilities to understand the extent to which these can percolate and cause damage. Some of the tools to help achieve this are QARK (Quick Android Review Kit), Mitmproxy, and many more.

Remediation—

After setting the goal for the security audit, analyzing the app and its supporting infrastructure for risks and vulnerabilities, and exploiting and segregating those according to the severity, we come to fixing or remediating the vulnerabilities through suitable tools.

Ten crucial aspects to ensure the security of your mobile apps

Following are the key activities to be executed while testing the security of mobile applications:

1. Optimizing security features based on multiple platforms—As mobile apps function on different devices, OS, platforms, and networks where the apps are able to access several features from the phones, it is important to test the security factors over these variables.

2. Assessing the performance of tests—It is essential to check the performance of varied automated mobile app security testing solutions deployed to identify embedded spyware, Trojans, viruses, data leakage, unsolicited network connections, and many others.

3. Securing the data-in-transit—While ensuring the security of mobile apps, the sensitive information transmitted from the client to the server must be protected against data theft and privacy leaks. Implementing an SSL or VPN tunnel is advisable to ensure that user data is efficiently protected with strict security measures.

4. Leveraging robust hack-proof code—Mobile apps are often susceptible to malware attacks and data breaches that necessitate developers to put additional focus on writing codes that are robust and free from backdoors that attackers can invade. Hence, deploying hack-proof codes to implement mobile app security standards and assure that the apps transmit, use, and store minimum data is vital.

5. Careful selection of the third-party libraries—The developers generally use the codes offered in the third-party libraries. However, substantial security risks are present around these codes, making it pivotal to thoroughly test the codes taken from these libraries before incorporating them into mobile application code.

6. Leveraging proper testing labs—The usage of a cloud-based mobile testing lab is a wise decision as it enables uploading locations or the actual apps themselves for executing the tests. 

7. Proper assessment of codes—It is vital to assess the automated code that allows IT teams to simplify securing mobile apps in agile-based environments. 

8. Using the latest cryptography techniques—Even the most prevalent cryptographic algorithms like MD5 and SHA1 are often insufficient in meeting the ever-increasing security requirements. Hence, staying updated with the latest security algorithms and using modern encryption methodologies like AES with 512-bit encryption, 256-bit encryption, and SHA-256 for hashing is recommended. Additionally, one should perform manual penetration testing and threat modeling on the apps before launching them in the market to ensure complete security.

9. Assessment of app features in the required environment—A critical task in testing security is to inspect every app feature in real-time controlled environments and compare results against a surfeit of known applications.

10. Additional requirements—Assessing the apps that use binary static analysis, which exposes malicious capabilities and vulnerabilities, like information leakage, along with assessing the app’s compliance with the industry requirements and standards is a key to ensuring security.

Conclusion

Today, mobile app security is a top priority for developers to empower users by protecting confidential and private data, data losses, malware, and much more. The market offers a wide range of tools to support the security testing of the apps, which, combined with the best practices discussed in this blog, can help establish a safe digital space for everyone. 

FAQs

1. What is lost device protection in mobile security?

Lost device protection is a feature that assists in protecting mobile devices and their data in case of misplacement or loss of the device. Users can remotely trigger an alert, locate the lost device or wipe any data if the feature is enabled.

2. What is intrusion detection?

This system helps determine possible attacks and deals with those. Intrusion detection can include collecting information from several systems and sources, analyzing the information, and identifying the possible ways to attack the system. Primarily intrusion detection checks:

• Any abnormal activity
• Probable attacks
• Auditing the system data
• Analysis of different collected data

3. What are some of the methodologies in security testing?

• White Box- testers are provided with all the information
• Black Box- testers do not possess any information, and they can perform the test in a real-world scenario
• Grey Box- testers have partial information and execute the rest on their own 

4. How does URL manipulation occur?

This type of attack involves hackers manipulating the website URL for retrieving critical information. The information is passed in the parameters within the query string using the HTTP GET method between the server and client. The hackers can alter the information between these parameters, get authentication on the servers, and further steal critical data.