In an era where mobile applications are intertwined with every aspect of our daily lives, from social networking to online banking, the importance of security cannot be overstated. As app developers, ensuring the safety of your mobile apps should be a top priority—not just as a best practice but as a critical defense against the evolving threats that target our digital experiences.

Given below is a pie chart that displays the number of all kinds of data breaches across mobile apps in 2024:

In this blog, I’ll help you explore the best practices for creating safe mobile applications, which will assist you in upholding confidence and safeguarding sensitive user information.

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2. Integrate DevSecOps:

DevSecOps combines speed and security by integrating security into app development, enabling faster, cost-effective code delivery. It reduces post-release security fixes, enhances proactive measures, and speeds up patching. It also fosters collaboration among development, security, and operations teams, streamlining incident response and compliance.

Note: Introducing a secure CI/CD pipeline is a cornerstone of DevSecOps. How can you secure it? Well, here’s the process:

• Planning stage: To make sure that your code is safe and complies with security standards, it’s critical to incorporate security checks at every stage of the pipeline. Creating a product roadmap is the first step in identifying potential security vulnerabilities. We call this “threat modeling”. It identifies potential weaknesses and implements measures to mitigate risks effectively.
• Coding: Take precautions to ensure that code is written in compliance with established standards and design principles as soon as developers start creating code. To find code that could be exposed to security risks, you can use source code scanners.
• Building: Start automated tests as soon as developers submit their code to a shared repository to ensure the builds meet the requirements.
• Testing: Check for errors when a build has succeeded. More automated testing can be conducted once new features are implemented.

3. Secure coding practices:

Secure coding is essential for mobile app security as it focuses on minimizing vulnerabilities. Key practices include:

• Avoid exposing passwords and API keys and use secure methods like environment variables instead.
• Always validate user input on both the client and server sides to prevent attacks like SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
• Use all secure communication protocols and ensure data in transit is protected.

Under secure coding practices umbrella, these are the essential techniques that you must be aware of:

a. Code Obfuscation: This is a technique that makes human-readable code difficult to understand without compromising its functionality. It is often used to protect intellectual property, prevent reverse engineering, and deter unauthorized access.

Some of the common obfuscation techniques are:

• Renaming variables and functions to meaningless names
• Inserting dead code (code that has no effect on the program)
• Using control flow obfuscation to scramble the order of instructions
• Applying mathematical transformations to obscure algorithms

b. Using vaults for storing API keys, passwords, certificates, or cryptographic keys, such as:

• Azure Key Vault: A cloud-based solution that securely manages and stores secrets like API keys and passwords, enabling controlled access and encryption in cloud apps.
• HashiCorp Vault: Offers a centralized location for secret storage and retrieval.

4. Secure data transmission:

This is one of the key aspects of securing the data being transmitted between the application and the server. Here are the things that you need to follow:

• Use HTTPS: Always use HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) to encrypt data in transit. This helps prevent interception and tampering.
• Certificate pinning: Implement certificate pinning to ensure your application only connects to trusted servers, preventing man-in-the-middle attacks that can intercept and alter messages.
• Use TLS: A TLS certificate (sometimes known as a “SSL certificate” because of the nomenclature confusion mentioned above) must be deployed on the origin server of a website or application. A certificate authority issues a TLS certificate to the domain owner, containing the server’s public key and key details about the owner to verify the server’s legitimacy.
• AES-256: This is a symmetric encryption algorithm that uses a 256-bit key to encrypt and decrypt data. It is considered to be highly secure and is widely used in various applications, including secure communication and data storage.

5. Secure data storage:

Keep sensitive data secure on your device by following these tips:

• Encrypt sensitive data using a platform-specific secure storage solution, such as Keychain on iOS or Keystore on Android.
• Avoid storing sensitive information on your device whenever possible. Instead, use secure tokens or session-based authentication.

6. Enable two-factor authentication:

Two-factor authentication (2FA) in mobile apps for sensitive data adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide two different forms of identification. This typically involves a combination of something they know (like a password) and something they have (like a code sent to their phone). This makes it significantly harder for unauthorized individuals to access sensitive information.

7. Application security testing:

Whether you develop your applications on your own or with a team of developers, you should perform regular application security testing. You should test your applications during development and after they go live. Surprisingly, 40% of companies do not check their application code for security vulnerabilities.

The same study found that organizations test less than half of the applications they create, and among those, 33% do not check their applications for security.

Note: Not all security vulnerabilities are obvious. Mobile testing is one of the best ways to detect potential vulnerabilities.

So why don’t companies test their apps? This isn’t just important for preventing hacking and malware. But application security needs to evolve to keep up with regulatory changes.

There are some tools like Snyk, Veracode, OWASP for vulnerability scanning that can help in these scenarios.

8. Collaborate with industry experts for external audits and assessments:

Involving external auditors specializing in mobile application security assessments helps improve an organization’s overall security posture significantly. These experts evaluate existing systems and suggest remedial actions necessary for mitigating identified threats effectively.

Moreover, partnering with certified Application Security Consultants who adhere to global frameworks like ISO/IPEC-27000 ensures compliance with international benchmarks set forth for protecting mobile apps from cyber-attacks.

9. Empower your users:

As an app developer, your ability to protect users is limited. So, the users of your app need to be informed about securing their data to ensure their online safety. So, empowering your through education on how to stay safe online is essential.

Here are the action items for users:

• Only download apps from trusted sources, including authorized app stores like the App Store on iOS or Play Store on Android devices.
• Always create a robust password to prevent your account from being compromised.
• Enable app locks for sensitive applications to protect your data in case your phone gets stolen.
• Implement automatic logout options in critical applications.
• Avoid divulging passwords or one-time passwords to anyone.

So, by implementing a strong mobile security plan and having a mobile app developer ready to quickly address issues and vulnerabilities, your application will be more secure and reliable for users.

10. Mitigate risks from external modules

External modules can pose security risks if not thoroughly checked. Conducting regular checks, relying on established sources, and being mindful of access rights are crucial to prevent these modules from becoming vulnerabilities in the app’s security framework. You can follow these to keep a check:

• Make sure external modules are secure and current.
• Choose to use libraries and SDKs from well-known sources.
• Understand the access needs of external modules and ensure they don’t exceed their limits.

So, as we have explored the best practices in this blog, it’s evident that taking proactive steps, continuous education, and flexibility are essential for staying ahead of potential dangers. Ultimately, the security of a mobile application is not limited to coding, encryption, or network security. It’s about maintaining a pledge to the users, ensuring their data and privacy are handled with the highest level of care. As developers, companies, and participants in the digital world, it’s our shared duty to prioritize security, treating it not as an optional add-on, but as a core value in our digital projects.

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