Послуги з імітації атак хакерів для вдосконалення процесів кібербезпеки.
Why is mobile app pentesting important for business?
/ BLOG
In today’s digital landscape, mobile applications are an integral part of business infrastructure. Whether your organisation develops mobile apps in house or uses off-the-shelf solutions, their security cannot be ignored. Mobile app vulnerabilities can become a weak point in your company, potentially leading to sensitive data leaks, financial losses, and damage to your company’s reputation.
Protecting mobile apps from potential risks and vulnerabilities is extremely important. That’s why mobile app penetration testing is vital for any entity that develops or uses Android and iOS mobile apps.
Our team performs pentesting of various mobile apps every year. Obviously, this raises a lot of questions for our clients. In this article, we’ll look at the main aspects of mobile app pentesting and explain why it’s important for business.
First of all, for each penetration test, we aim to assess the security of iOS and Android applications with maximum accuracy.
Why is mobile app pentesting important for business?
/ BLOG
In today’s digital landscape, mobile applications are an integral part of business infrastructure. Whether your organisation develops mobile apps in house or uses off-the-shelf solutions, their security cannot be ignored. Mobile app vulnerabilities can become a weak point in your company, potentially leading to sensitive data leaks, financial losses, and damage to your company’s reputation.
Protecting mobile apps from potential risks and vulnerabilities is extremely important. That’s why mobile app penetration testing is vital for any entity that develops or uses Android and iOS mobile apps.
Our team performs pentesting of various mobile apps every year. Obviously, this raises a lot of questions for our clients. In this article, we’ll look at the main aspects of mobile app pentesting and explain why it’s important for business.
First of all, for each penetration test, we aim to assess the security of iOS and Android applications with maximum accuracy.
Why is mobile app pentesting important for business?
/ BLOG
In today’s digital landscape, mobile applications are an integral part of business infrastructure. Whether your organisation develops mobile apps in house or uses off-the-shelf solutions, their security cannot be ignored. Mobile app vulnerabilities can become a weak point in your company, potentially leading to sensitive data leaks, financial losses, and damage to your company’s reputation.
Protecting mobile apps from potential risks and vulnerabilities is extremely important. That’s why mobile app penetration testing is vital for any entity that develops or uses Android and iOS mobile apps.
Our team performs pentesting of various mobile apps every year. Obviously, this raises a lot of questions for our clients. In this article, we’ll look at the main aspects of mobile app pentesting and explain why it’s important for business.
First of all, for each penetration test, we aim to assess the security of iOS and Android applications with maximum accuracy.
What is mobile app pentesting?
Mobile app pentesting is the process of assessing app security by simulating attacks. The main purpose of this testing is to increase the app’s resistance to potential threats and ensure its protection against cyber threats.
This type of cybersecurity assessment analyses various aspects, such as vulnerabilities in mobile app server APIs, authentication and authorisation systems, file system access rights, inter-process communication, and insecure data storage in the cloud and on the device.
The main goals and benefits of mobile app penetration testing include:
1. Identification of security vulnerabilities: Identification of weaknesses in the design and implementation of a mobile application, from incorrect settings to complex logical errors.
2. Assessment of security measures: Analysis of the effectiveness of existing mobile app security features, including its ability to withstand attacks and protect sensitive data.
3. Providing recommendations: Preparation of detailed findings and practical advice on how to address identified vulnerabilities.
4. Integrating security into the development process: Incorporating security measures into all stages of the mobile app development life cycle.
5. Maintaining customer trust and brand reputation: Demonstrating a commitment to security that helps maintain customer trust and protect the brand.
6. Ensuring compliance with standards: Verifying that the mobile app is compliant with industry norms and standards, such as PCI DSS, which is essential for compliance.
7. Vulnerability management: Identifying and eliminating vulnerabilities before they are exploited by attackers, which is a cost-effective approach to ensuring a reliable level of protection.
8. Increasing overall security: Improving the security of mobile apps through regular testing and continuous improvements, which increases their resilience to cyber threats.
What is mobile app pentesting?
Mobile app pentesting is the process of assessing app security by simulating attacks. The main purpose of this testing is to increase the app’s resistance to potential threats and ensure its protection against cyber threats.
This type of cybersecurity assessment analyses various aspects, such as vulnerabilities in mobile app server APIs, authentication and authorisation systems, file system access rights, inter-process communication, and insecure data storage in the cloud and on the device.
The main goals and benefits of mobile app penetration testing include:
1. Identification of security vulnerabilities: Identification of weaknesses in the design and implementation of a mobile application, from incorrect settings to complex logical errors.
2. Assessment of security measures: Analysis of the effectiveness of existing mobile app security features, including its ability to withstand attacks and protect sensitive data.
3. Providing recommendations: Preparation of detailed findings and practical advice on how to address identified vulnerabilities.
4. Integrating security into the development process: Incorporating security measures into all stages of the mobile app development life cycle.
5. Maintaining customer trust and brand reputation: Demonstrating a commitment to security that helps maintain customer trust and protect the brand.
6. Ensuring compliance with standards: Verifying that the mobile app is compliant with industry norms and standards, such as PCI DSS, which is essential for compliance.
7. Vulnerability management: Identifying and eliminating vulnerabilities before they are exploited by attackers, which is a cost-effective approach to ensuring a reliable level of protection.
8. Increasing overall security: Improving the security of mobile apps through regular testing and continuous improvements, which increases their resilience to cyber threats.
Our approach combines both automated and manual testing methods based on industry standards:
● The OWASP Mobile Application Security Verification Standard (MASVS), which outlines various aspects of comprehensive security requirements, such as data storage, cryptographic practices, user authentication, network communications, and seamless functionality across platforms.
● The OWASP Mobile Application Security Testing Guide (MSTG), which complements MASVS by providing practical advice, established best practices, and detailed methodologies for conducting reliable mobile application security assessments.
● Compliance with key industry and regional compliance requirements, including PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard).
● Checks based on OWASP Mobile Top 10.
Understanding the multifaceted nature of the security threats faced by mobile applications, our approach is designed to be proactive and tailored to preventive vulnerability detection.
Our mobile app security testing services help identify and protect against many common vulnerabilities, including the most popular ones listed in the OWASP Mobile Top 10:
Our thorough checks cover not only the application itself, but also the key APIs that facilitate the transfer of data between the client and the server. Following industry best practices and using our proprietary methodologies, we provide a comprehensive analysis of all potential security weaknesses of your mobile app at each stage of mobile app testing.
Mobile app penetration testing includes four main stages: information collection (RECON), static analysis, dynamic analysis, and preparation of the penetration test report.
● Incorrect use of account data: occurs when applications handle user account data in an insecure manner, for example, by storing passwords in clear text or managing session tokens inappropriately.
● Insufficient supply chain security: a vulnerability that arises from insufficient security measures within the software supply chain, including third-party libraries, SDKs, and other dependencies that may introduce vulnerabilities.
● Unreliable authentication/authorisation: weak authentication and authorisation mechanisms that may allow attackers to gain unauthorised access to the application or its data, such as poor OAuth implementation or insecure token management.
● Insufficient input/output verification: inadequate validation of data entered by users or external systems leading to vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, XSS, and remote command execution.
● Unreliable communications: the use of unreliable protocols or weak security protocol configuration, which leads to vulnerabilities where transmitted data can be intercepted or modified by attackers.
● Inadequate privacy controls: insufficient measures to protect the privacy of users, which lead to the potential disclosure of personal data.
● Insufficient binary file protection: the absence of proper security measures for mobile app binary files. Insufficient protection can lead to risks such as reverse engineering of the application, code modification, and the addition of malicious components.
● Errors in the app’s security configurations: incorrect configuration of the application or server, which can manifest in vulnerabilities, such as the use of standard account credentials, enabled services that are not being used or incorrectly configured security headers, etc.
● Unreliable data storage: unencrypted data storage or weak configuration of access control, which may lead to leaks of user data.
● Insufficient cryptography: weaknesses in cryptographic protection that may allow attackers to decrypt or modify encrypted data.
Information collection (RECON)
Gathering information about the company and its applications using OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) and active intelligence methods is the initial stage of testing. It includes the study of available public sources to obtain information that can be used to plan further stages of testing. It includes:
● Analysis of company websites and related resources.● Search for data leaks or vulnerabilities in public code repositories.● Examining social media and other online sources to gather information about the infrastructure and technology used by a company.● Identification and research of application developers, code repositories, etc.
Static analysis
Static analysis involves examining the source code or binary files of an app without running it. This method facilitates the identification of a wide range of vulnerabilities, such as:
● Backdoors left in the software code.● Hard-coded credentials that can be used by attackers.● Unsafe coding practices that create security risks.
Dynamic analysis
During dynamic analysis, our expert penetration testers run applications in a controlled environment to simulate real-world use scenarios. This process is important for identifying vulnerabilities that can only be detected when an application is active. Dynamic tests can include checking the interaction between different application components to identify weaknesses in communication channels. Additionally, we conduct thorough monitoring of network traffic, analyse application behaviour using debugging and reverse engineering methods, and evaluate API interaction and data storage mechanisms.
Preparation of reports
Based on the test results, a report is generated that describes all the vulnerabilities identified during the test, along with detailed explanations and assessments. In addition, the report will include descriptions of the steps that led to the discovery of these vulnerabilities, suggestions for their remediation, and a list of the services found, if any, in the service format. Each customer also receives important advice and recommendations to improve cybersecurity.
Why is mobile app pentesting important for modern businesses?
Mobile application testing is becoming an integral part of a business’s cybersecurity strategy. The growing number of mobile applications used to manage business processes, financial transactions and communications makes them an attractive target for cybercriminals. Pentesting helps to identify vulnerabilities that can be used to gain unauthorised access to sensitive information or to attack systems. Mobile app pentesting provides a proactive approach to security, allowing you to fix issues before they are exploited by attackers.
Pentesting also helps to comply with regulatory requirements and security standards, which can be critical to maintaining the trust of customers and partners. Identifying and eliminating vulnerabilities improves the overall security of the system, which protects a business from possible financial and reputational losses. In addition, pentesting helps to ensure the continuity of business processes and minimises the risks associated with potential attacks.
Investing in a mobile app pentesting service is an important step in maintaining the stable and secure operation of a modern business.