The Importance of Mobile App Security and Best Practices

Mobile phone usage has skyrocketed, and it has even crossed the global usage of desktops and laptops reflected on the mobile app as well. According to Statista, 255 billion of mobile apps have been download in just one year of 2022. Moreover, $4.86 is the average spent on mobile apps in the third quarter of 2022 that is raising a concern of mobile app security.

Mobile phone apps have become increasingly popular, which results in exponential growth in the number of mobile app development businesses. However, with this many businesses and mobile apps, there is a high risk of mobile app security flaws which can give room for hackers and attackers to interrupt your operations.

What is Mobile App Security?

Mobile app security refers to all the tricks and techniques that most mobile application development companies use to protect their Android and iOS phone apps from outsiders and intruders. These hackers can take advantage of weak encryption, inadequate transport layer protection, and poor authentication. These mobile app security comes in many forms some offer to cater to an aspect, while others provide an entire solution. 

The Importance of Mobile App Security

Today, almost 83% of mobile applications have at least one security loophole. Business applications are three times more likely than average apps to expose login credentials, including sensitive personal and corporate data. 

With the frequent need for apps to access user information, ensuring robust security measures for your platform is crucial. Cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting mobile apps for data breaches, with the average cost of such breaches reaching $3.86 million.

Common Mobile Security App Pitfalls

First of all, businesses and enterprises need to understand the pitfalls anyone can face with mobile security. The measures required to secure a mobile app depend on the specific security threats it is designed to resist. As mobile application development continues to advance, the nature and variety of security risks and attacks are also evolving.

Lack of MFA

MFA refers to multi-factor authentication which is a necessity in your mobile application because If you are not implementing MFA in your mobile application then you are at a high risk of exploiting your mobile app to hackers and cyber criminals. 

The measures required to secure a mobile app depend on the specific security threats it is designed to resist. As mobile application development continues to advance, the nature and variety of security risks and attacks are also evolving.

Weak Protection at the Transport Layer

The transport layer is responsible for enabling data transfer between the client and server. Failing to secure it properly can result in serious threats, such as identity theft and fraud.

Enhancing transport layer security involves implementing SSL pinning and replacing standard cipher suites with industry-recognized ones.

Additional measures include notifying users about invalid certificates, preventing session ID exposure from mixed SSL sessions, and utilizing SSL versions of third-party analytics tools.

Less Secure Storage Device

Mobile app security is often compromised by the lack of a secure data storage system. Many developers depend on client storage for internal data, which poses risks. 

If this data falls into the wrong hands, it can result in unauthorized access, misuse, and manipulation, leading to problems such as identity theft and violations of external policies like PCI compliance.

A straightforward solution is to implement an additional encryption layer on top of the operating system’s default encryption.

Not Deploying Binary Code in your Mobile app security

Reverse engineering is one of the favorite ways of hackers to inject malware into your mobile apps. They can also launch another copy for your software application using the reversed engineered code with malicious code with it. 

This will not only breach the data instead it will damage your brand image. Therefore, it is highly important to deploy binary hardening procedures to ensure the safety of binary files.

Binary hardening is a process that secures legacy code without requiring access to the source code. It involves analyzing and modifying binary files to protect them against common mobile app security vulnerabilities.

Communication Vulnerability

Mobile security apps transfer data using a client-server approach that involves device carrier networks such as AT&T and the Internet. Hackers exploit vulnerabilities in communication security to gain access to sensitive data. For instance, an unsecured Wi-Fi network can be targeted through routers or proxy servers. 

Also read: The Future & Trends of Mobile App Development (2025)

Challenges in Mobile App Security Standards

Mobile app security standards are important but they are difficult to maintain and there is a ton of challenges that businesses face.

Device Fragmentation

Identifying vulnerabilities and issues specific to devices is a crucial part of mobile app security testing. It’s equally important to account for different versions of mobile operating systems to uncover potential problems that could arise in the future.

Weak Encryption Mechanism

When weak encryption is used, mobile devices are vulnerable to accepting data from unauthorized devices. To combat cyber attackers and malware targeting poorly secured devices, implementing robust encryption standards is essential.

Weak Hosting Controls

Many businesses neglect to implement adequate security measures to protect the servers supporting their mobile apps, potentially allowing unauthorized users to access sensitive data.

Ways to Secure Mobile Apps

To achieve robust mobile application security, several measures can be implemented. Many of these become evident once you understand the common security issues and challenges affecting mobile app security.

Storage Techniques

There’s a way you can increase data security to store confidential data In your internal storage and encrypted data in external storage. Today, We have many encryption standards the most common that is being used by multiple businesses and enterprises is AES encryption-128 bit.

Secure Messaging Instead of SMS

MS remains one of the most widely used methods for communication between mobile devices. Many apps also use SMS to exchange data with servers.

However, SMS technology lacks built-in encryption, making it unsuitable for secure app-server communication. Additionally, SMS messages can be accessed by other apps on the same device. To ensure secure communication between servers and client apps, encryption is essential.

Cloud messaging platforms like Firebase, GCM, Amazon SNS, and Apple Push Notification Service offer safer alternatives to SMS. For instance, GCM ensures secure communication by using registration tokens that are:

• Regularly refreshed on the front end.
• Authenticated with a unique API key on the backend.

Adopting a secure messaging system is a highly effective way to enhance your app’s security.

Secure Sensitive Data

Mobile apps across various categories often store sensitive information, whether for enabling social connections or facilitating online payments. Fintech (financial technology) apps, in particular, handle financial data and therefore demand heightened security measures.

Also read: The Impact of 5G on Mobile App Development

Frequently Asked Question

How can I secure user data in my app?

Use encryption, secure APIs, and follow data privacy regulations like GDPR or CCPA.

How do I protect my app from reverse engineering?

Use code obfuscation, secure APIs, and limit exposed data or logic on the client side.

What’s a simple best practice for mobile app security?

Always validate inputs, use HTTPS, and avoid storing sensitive data on the device.

Conclusion

Mobile app security is evolving with the progress in mobile app development. You have to be aware of all the latest happenings in mobile app development to be step ahead of cyber attackers and hackers. The more secure, your mobile app is, the more user will love to use it.