With the number of smartphones users predicted to cross the 5 billion mark in 2019, ensuring cyber security of mobile apps has become even more relevant. As a matter of fact, cyber criminals are more busy “sneaking” malicious apps in app stores than ever before.

Malware of various kinds are not lurking in the dark corners anymore, but running rampant on the internet in broad daylight. Veiled in the form of performance enhancing mobile apps to utility apps, these malicious attacks simply wait for their victims.

2018 was the year when about 60% of companies fell prey to data breach due to badly built or outdated apps. Out of them, only 20% worked towards making their apps more secure to avoid future incidents. The rest just kept going on.

As a mobile app owner, ensuring your mobile app security is of utmost importance. So let’s look at the top cyber security tips every mobile app owner must know…

Think From Hackers’ Perspective

Mobile app security starts with the design where it takes a hacker’s mind to know how a hacker will think. Many app owners fail to realize that not every end user will be the one you wanted to be. Some of them are looking for loopholes in the design structure. As a mobile app owner, you need to look out for these loopholes. Or, you can hire a team of internet security experts who like to get their hands dirty.

Things get even more serious when you are planning to launch an ecommerce app. Such an app will have sensitive user data such as transaction and credit card details. You can’t afford any kind of privacy and confidentiality breach in such a scenario.

Rely On Latest Encryption

Online device security kicks in the moment your end users accesses your app. First time users enter plenty of personal data in the app (name, phone number, email and house/office address). Moreover, every transaction done on an app further brings in crucial data.

This is exactly why latest encryption methods such as 256-bit encryption is the need of the hour. For example, when you are creating an Android app on an enterprise level, trust Google’s official Android for Work so that the OS can differentiate between personal and professional apps, giving them individual ecosystems to run.

App Wrapping Is The Way To Go

App wrapping is a method in which an app runs in an isolated and secure environment, where rest of the app don’t get any access. The best way to ensure App Wrapping is to talk to talk to a mobile app development company about it.

Secure Data Storage

The lack of secure data storage is one of the most common security loopholes. This loophole allows malicious elements to breach into the device and leak all the data to their servers. This is the reason behind many of the known identity theft and reputation damage incidents in the history of smartphone devices.

One effective way is to create an additional encryption layer over the default mobile operating system.

End User Education

Security concerns are not always about making a device and mobile app more secure, it’s also about educating the end users to ensure their devices are used in a safe environment. Here are some ways in which you can prompt your end users to ensure device security from their end:

Device OS and App Updates

More often than not, mobile users don’t update their mobile operating systems and apps for some reasons known only to them. Old OS and app versions make devices and mobile apps vulnerable to latest security threats.

The only fix for this issue is to educate your end users to keep their devices and app updated to their latest versions. And in the case of compatibility issues, you can suggest app users to limit app permissions to the bare essentials.

Be Wary of Open Networks

While public WiFi has made lives easy for the digital consumers, it has also made ways easy for the unfriendly elements. Becoming a part of an open network without any authentication allows hackers to share infected files with all the connected devices.

Educate your end users about this and ask them to trust their mobile data to access internet, no matter fast the public WiFi is.

Conclusion

The six cyber security tips we shared with you above will prove beneficial in ensuring great user experience while keeping the app, the device and customer data safe. It’s more or less like driving a supercar: an exhilarating experience combined with state of the art safety standards. This is Code Brew Labs signing off for now, see you soon with another amazing blog.