As mobile applications become increasingly functional, the risks increase. Especially when it comes to our data, the most important assets of our lives. A correct implementation of prevention measures will help to avoid loss of data that could have an impact on your personal, professional life, and of course, on banking issues.
The main purpose of mobile applications is to facilitate our daily tasks. For some time now, both our tasks and day to day have been greatly favored by their development and improvement. So much is the benefit that we get from each of them, that it is no longer necessary to leave our rooms to make our purchases, payments or order something for dinner. Consequently, the amount of personal data we manipulate increases more and more, and the risk of losing them, or that they are simply exposed, is very high.
One of the factors that most jeopardize the data generated and manipulated within mobile applications is the storage of them in an insecure way. Unfortunately, this tends to be a common factor in terms of financial, personal and correspondence data. On the other hand, much of the vulnerabilities that could be detected in applications can be exploited by malware . Which means that access to the device in question is not necessary.
Now, where do these vulnerabilities come from? Weakness in terms of the essential security mechanisms both in the applications themselves, and the servers that host them. Unfortunately, these application security issues are not perceived by the user, except that he is the victim of some kind of attack.
Security is not a priority
Now, the question we all ask ourselves is: why are most mobile applications so insecure? This question becomes even stronger when we consider that billions of users, at every minute, are interacting with these applications with a practically blind level of trust.
The main reason is that developers generally focus on features of applications that are more oriented to what the business may find attractive. Convenience, usability, experience and user interface. Features like these are the ones that have the highest priority when launching an application for use.
So far, the security aspect is not being taken into account accordingly. Mainly because it can take almost as long as the attractive features that we mentioned earlier. The best security policies and measures for each application require proper planning and risk management.
The challenge of mobile application developers
The Gartner firm predicts that by 2022, at least 50% of attacks against mobile applications could have been prevented thanks to the integrated protection within them. In English, it is called ” In-App Protection “. It allows developers to easily introduce security into their applications from the start. On the other hand, there is the ” App Shielding ” which is like a shield that is introduced into the development of the app to protect itself from other repackaged apps, script injection, SMS intrusion as false means of authentication and many more.
One of the advantages of applying the In-App Protection and the App Shielding together is that it is invisible to the end user. The latter should only concentrate on the essentials so that the user experience is good, and above all, safe from beginning to end. Both layers of protection continuously monitor any type of suspicious activity, through notifications, for example. However, the essential thing is to be aware of the importance of implementing protection measures for applications, in addition to everything that involves their operation, especially for the millions of users who use them every day.
Unfortunately, none of the operating systems (Android or iOS) will reach a point where they will be 100% secure. Likewise, they will always be working to provide solutions to security holes or any other fault that arises. However, these security holes can leave the user exposed for a good time. It is up to the manufacturer itself to have to take actions to solve the problems.
What can the user do to protect himself?
The most important thing is to avoid accessing applications that are not considered safe or certified by the store or any service associated with that store. For example, Google Play Protect is responsible for scanning applications and their updates, looking for some kind of security threat. However, even if it tells us that everything is correct, we may not have detected the threat, so we should not rely 100% on this.
If the applications offer you additional security mechanisms such as multi-factor authentication or the use of the fingerprint to access the app, activate them. Especially when we are dealing with sensitive information such as bank details or those related to our workplace. You should also pay attention to the permissions you grant to applications . There are some that request unnecessary or suspicious permissions such as access to your contacts or your microphone, since what we have installed on our phone is a flashlight. Imagine how much private information you could be sharing just by granting unnecessary permissions to certain applications! Now, if these permissions are “mandatory”, you should doubt even more the legitimacy of their origins, however, in the latest versions of Android we have the possibility to deactivate the permissions individually.
If you have software updates that include security patches, it is essential that you install them on your device. Either the operating system itself or the applications you use frequently. These simple measures will help us prevent our data from being exposed or violated in completely avoidable circumstances. The road to a correct adoption of security awareness is still very long. Likewise, every small action in favor of her and, above all, be aware of the apps we use.
