Pandemic has taught people to change and survive in every condition. Some people have learned to survive with the least amount of resources, while others have utilized the time in a magnificent way. In the COVID-19 situation, some retailers have suffered a lot while others have upgraded themselves to keep moving in the race. They have switched to mobile apps to sell their products online and connect well with their customers.

For instance, the coffee shops and restaurants near me are asking their customers to login to their apps and place an online food order. And the stores whose physical locations are completely shut depend on their mobile apps for revenue generation. Today, a company’s mobile presence has become more important than their physical presence.

In such a situation, some people are enjoying and taking complete advantage of the pandemic and people’s complete reliance on technology.

Though the application and business owners need to step outside their old infrastructure and try things beyond basic security, to avoid any serious problems, organizations can improve mobile app security by taking note of these points:

Improve data storage

There are many apps where personally identifiable information, such as credit card numbers and other valuable information, is stored. It means that anyone who can gain unauthorized access to the app can read the data stored in it. Therefore, it is important to secure the data within the phone instead of the phone itself. The data must be encrypted with a strong set of keys. It acts as layers of security to the data because it requires an encryption key to decode the data. The cryptography employed should be very strong as an Advanced Encryption Standard.

Raise awareness in users

The users who switched to mobile apps for entertainment, such as games and chatting, have changed their direction. Now, almost everyone has started to purchase things from shopping applications instead of taking the risk of moving out. These former app users are more prone to security scams as they easily give away the information asked during/after installation. Therefore, users should be made to understand which applications need to be installed and what is the correct usage of the applications.

Emphasize secure communication

For an application to be successful, it has to go through various levels of communication via the Internet. And it should be protected as it can further lead to cybercrime or attack. In such a process, the cybercriminals often intervene and try to fetch the information exchange between mobile users and the server they’re trying to reach. If the process is successful, the attackers can steal sensitive or confidential data by injecting malware into the app.

As a protection measure, the apps should ensure secure communications by using transport layer security (TLS) and confirm security certificates. It verifies the identity of the server to which the mobile app is attempting to connect.

Fight with tampering

Most of the applications are not protected against attempts to tamper and debug. The process of protecting the application is referred to as app shielding.

One method is code obfuscation, which means modifying the app to the extent that it is no longer useful for the hacker but is functional at the same time. Another method is creating fake applications that look like real apps. They then distribute these applications while distracting hackers from attacking the real ones. These two methods act as powerful protection for mobile apps.

However, these measures are time-taking and require a lot of effort to be implemented. Seeing which, businesses try to release the app when there is an urgency. Thanks to the automation and AI-powered platforms capable of implementing all the security measures without any coding. For example, you can research software development kits (SDKs) that can be incorporated into applications to secure them.

What is the future of mobile app security?

No doubt, the above methods are the right way to ensure mobile app security. But there is a new way where development teams have to upgrade themselves and accomplish another level. The managers and team members in the app development team should focus on automation. Automation testing for security has been the most appropriate way to improve efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, and the overall security of the mobile application. Several mobile automation testing tools are easily available in the market to evaluate different parameters of the application.

“The mobile environment is evolving and presents new vulnerabilities and threats,” says Dionisio Zumerle, VP Analyst at Gartner. “App developers lack mobile expertise and tend to apply traditional application development practices to mobile with a focus on functionality, not security.”

In the same line, the building of an excellent “security first, features later” app requires a set of intelligent engineers who are high in demand and low in number. So, it emphasizes the fact that despite thousands of engineers available for every job opportunity, the market still seeks people who are eligible to meet the technological demands of today and tomorrow.