The user can lose important and private data like pictures, videos, bank information, healthcare data, and a lot more, which could be very threatening. On the other hand, the app company that gets hacked will lose according to the scale of the attack and breach anywhere from millions to billions in dollars and an unrepairable company image.

Even after several high profile app breach incidents with companies like eBay, Facebook, Target Stores, Uber, JP Morgan Chase, Sony PlayStation, Anthem, Adobe, among many others, 40% of companies don’t scan their company app code for vulnerabilities.

In the race to become the best app-based business company and creating an app with the most trending features and design, almost 33% of companies don’t properly test their app before launching. Such carelessness leads to have security vulnerabilities in the app and become prone to cyber attacks.

How can a hackers attack your company app?

Cyber crimes are becoming very risky and (sadly) widespread incidents just because of the lack of attention given to the security aspect of app development. It’s advisable that you find the top mobile app development company that is not only the best app developer but also experts in making your business’ mobile app secure from various cyber attacks.

Here are a few ways that hackers breach into your company app and create menace:

Code Injection

This attack is the most common among the rest of the techniques. It is exactly what the name suggests, the attacker injects a piece of malicious code into the existing app code and then does any of the following steps to release the app:

Repackaging

After injecting the malicious code into the app code, the attacker repackages the app as new and launch or reinstall in unsuspecting app user’s device.

Binary Patching

In binary patching, the hacker modifies the binary code of the app and change the app behavior by changing the execution path. This technique can be executed while licensing restrictions, purchasing requirements, disabling security controls of the mobile app, displaying ads in the mobile app, etc.

Method Swizzling

In method swizzling, the hacker attacks critical-class methods of the mobile app. The hacker stops API calls and puts in authorized code without leaving a trace of the attack.

How to secure your mobile app from hackers

These are just a few types of attack that hackers commit to company mobile apps. You need to secure your app against these and many other ways of cyber attacks. Here are a few ways how you can do that with the top mobile app development company as your technology partner.

Ensure what libraries you use and update regularly

Whether you build the app for Android or iOS, the app developers will have access to hundreds of 3rd party libraries to build your app. As efficient the 3rd parties are, there is always a threat that they have various vulnerabilities in security that hackers can abuse.

Make sure that the libraries that your developers will be using to build your app are updated and secure in all manners. Test all the 3rd party libraries thoroughly before using into your app, so that the hackers won’t misuse any outdated library used in your app.

Code review by security professionals

A regular code review by a developer is not enough to ensure the security of the app. To get a complete security check, you need a security expert to review the app code. A security expert reviewing your app can easily point out vulnerabilities in specific areas of the code easily prone to cyber attacks.

An in-house security expert may not be affordable to many companies. It is better to make sure that the mobile app development company that you hire to build your app has good QA testing personnel with proper experience.

Use encrypted web addresses while pulling data

Mobile apps do not show an “Address bar” like desktop versions of browsers; hence, we can spot an HTTPS connection. What is HTTPS you ask? HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP, which helps in protected communication between the app and the server.

To implement an HTTPS connection, you need a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, and a secure network connection on the back end is essential. Any servers that your app APIs access should have proper security measures in place to obstruct any kind of unauthorized access and secure the data. Implementing HTTPS connection is very important when you develop an app with a payment gateway.

Repeated testing of app

Many companies just test their app once and launch it to the market. This is by far the biggest mistake that an app development company can commit. App testing is a never-ending process. You need to thoroughly check the app more than once. Every new addition in the code can be an advancement but also a threat.

More than one tester should go through the complete app testing process. This way the chances of missing out a small bug or error is reduced to a minimum. Also, security patches and OS updates is a good option to increase security.

Conclusion

Mobile app development is a process that demands great attention to detail, furthermore in the aspect of app security. With the points mentioned here, you can make sure that the majority of the hacker threats can be avoided. However, choosing a top mobile app development company to build your secure and highly functional app is important.