We all are very well aware of the mobile devices since they have become the integral part of our lives. However, it is also the fact that most of the people don’t actually understand the importance, aspects and challenges of mobile apps security testing. When the technology was not developed, the testing techniques were lengthy and sometimes not so much effective.

However, the impact of advanced technology can be seen significantly in the present time because it has affected the techniques and strategies of mobile apps security testing quite positively. It can offer you capability of sharing data with flexibility and much faster speed. The benefits are so many but there are some risks involved too.

Before we discuss the positive and negative impacts of mobile device application security testing procedure, let’s discuss the common activities that are included in the basic client side security testing methodology.

Activities Of Mobile Applications Security Testing Procedure

1. This procedure will lead installed apps to its assembling stage.
2. The research regarding different kinds of sensitive info that have been hard coded within the application.
3. It will be verified with the help of available credentials. Verification procedure will require proper check of SSL certificate and an official signature.
4. If there is an insecure and outdated cryptography that is being used for information transmission, then it will be spotted out immediately. Then, source code analysis will help the complex process to become simpler.
5. After this procedure is done, you need to check that the verification of sensitive information is stopped after you uninstall the application.

There is a wide range of mobile apps available and that also involves risk and potential harms to the security because not all of them come from trusted sources.

If we talk about typical categories of mobile applications then we can point out native apps, web apps and hybrid apps. However, Hybrid applications are most appreciated due to their flexibility and a wider approach.

These are few very small and sometimes hidden things that we don’t see while running the security testing of mobile apps. Therefore, it becomes necessary that you know the fact that all three categories of applications will require a different procedure. If you want to be accurate in your testing method then you need to grab all the details you can.

Vulnerability Testing In Applications

• Information transmission or data flow process: You need to check whether you can establish a proper and secure data audit trail. Also, you need to make sure that you know everyone who has access to it.
• Storage of data: Encryption of data is perfect or not? Cloud solutions are not always the best idea in order to maintain the best security.
• Leak of data: Is your sensitive and confidential data leaking through the general notifications or log files?
• Authentication: Can you track password and IDs of everyone who goes thru the authentication process?
• Controls: Pay attention to the controls of servers rather than client side controls.
• Entry points: Are all entry points registered? Are all routes being validated properly?

Risk and Benefits

This procedure is simple and quite effective due to the integration of advanced technology in it. Most of the international and national enterprises are now going mobile since it is an efficient manner of incorporating best technological practices in your business.

Risk

• Reverse engineering or republishing threats by unsuspecting can mess up with security if code hardening is not done properly.
• Presence of malware on the devices can lead to the unauthorized device to device connectivity or interaction. It can also result in data exchange.
• Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks can make this test vulnerable unless the procedure is handled professionally by experts.
• If the cryptography is not right and session management is not proper, then it can compromise the results of the entire process.

Benefits

• For business needs, mobile application security testing is necessary since it offers complete information about efficiency and reliability of application. It can check the IOS and application for any malware so that you can make sure that application is 100% safe and secure.
• Running security testing for applications also allows you to do mobile performance testing. It will solve all the low performance issues as well.
• All the errors, issues and bugs will be fixed in security testing procedure.
• If there is any vulnerability which can lead to the situation of compromising security then this simple test will highlight the possibilities.