There’s no questioning that mobile apps and smartphones have improved how we live in the digital age. Despite how useful they are, they have also opened us up to new threats. Because of how integral they are to modern life, smartphones and mobile apps have become a target that cybercriminals and hackers are always looking to exploit. This is why cyberattack prevention is vital for any mobile company.

Now, you’ll be glad to know that there are things that can be done in order to protect mobile app users. To help you get started, here’s a list of the best ways to deal with common mobile app security threats!

 

Utilise Server-Side Authentication

While multifactor authentication is important, you’ll also want to make sure that these requests are only granted on the server side. You never want to have data stored on your user’s side as this can make them vulnerable to cyberattacks. If your app requires data to be stored on the user side, be sure that the data is encrypted and can only be accessed once their log in credentials have been validated.

 

Make Use of Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Management Best Practices

As we’ve stated above, it’s best not to have any sensitive or valuable data stored on the mobile device itself. Not, it is possible to protect users from threats through the use of code encryption but even this isn’t a perfect solution. Even if you are making use of a powerful encryption algorithm, you’ll still need to ensure that you are abiding by key management best practices. This means never using algorithms that have been deprecated or disapproved by the security community. It also goes without saying that you should never, under any circumstance, create your own encryption protocols.

Validate All User Input Via Sanity Check Standards

Hackers are scouring your app for any potential vulnerabilities. The most common form of this is through input fields wherein they can submit malformed data in hopes of doing harm to you and your users. Luckily, there’s a simple way around this. By applying sanity check standards, you are essentially preventing your app from accepting images or input validations that have an unreasonable pixel count or have an abnormally large file size. This will prevent hackers from uploading malicious files that are disguised as images.

 

Obfuscate to Combat the Possibility of Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering is a huge problem for mobile apps. If a hacker is experienced enough there is nothing that will stop them from going through your app and figuring out how to reverse engineer it in order to cause harm for you and your users. Luckily, there is a way to prevent them from being able to decipher your app in the first place. By using obfuscation tools, you make the business logic that is used in your app less readable and infinitely more difficult to understand.

 

We hope the information that we’ve laid out here proves to be useful when it comes to helping with cyberattack prevention. As you may have noticed, being prepared is vital when it comes to fending off cyberattacks. While it may seem like a lot of work, there’s nothing more important than protecting the data of your users.

 

FraudWatch specialises in brand protection for your mobile apps. We serve businesses, entities, and organisations of all sizes from all over the world by providing them with protection from all online threats. Get in touch with us today to learn more about the strategies that we employ for cyberattack prevention!