Five Security Questions Mobile Application Developers Should Consider
Mobile Malware is a Rising Issue and Mobile App Developer Must Be Aware
The mobile industry is continuously picking up momentum as companies/corporations are rushing to develop an iPhone application, iPad, Android applications and Blackberry mobile app that will change the landscape of the way they do business. The popularity of these mobile apps is driving demand for development at a very quick pace; and unfortunately, there are many risks that are also being associated with the development of mobile enterprise applications.
In order to ensure that a mobile application is designed and developed to the best way possible, business managers need to make sure that the marketing and IT managers who design the mobile application are protecting their customer’s data and not inadvertently opening up unexpected security holes for outside attacks. In the following, we will discuss Five Security Questions which mobile project managers should consider before developing their mobile application.
- How does the risk of software on mobile devices differ from enterprise software?The risk of software on a mobile device differs from enterprise software mainly because of the fact that mobile device software has the potential to be jail-broken (for specific devices such as the iPhone or Android) and once the mobile application software is opened up (through jail-breaking); it will also allow the user to have access to the source code and even potentially re-engineer the entire mobile application.
- How do mobile applications interact with internal severs?Mobile applications interact constantly with internal servers and there is always the opportunity for an experienced mobile app hacker to gain access to the internal server if he is able to hack and jail-break the mobile application. While a lot of attention is focused towards the security of the handheld device itself, there also needs to be attention put on the mobile app and how it interacts with the server.
- Are there individuals who specialize in managing and minimizing this risk of mobile application threats?Even though there may not be mobile application developers specialize in anti-virus issues, there are many mobile application developers and mobile app “experts” who are knowledgeable enough to be able to detect if there was a security breach in a mobile application and find a way to re-program the application to prevent it from further breaching. It is advised that every company that is specializing in mobile application development have a small team of mobile application “experts” or mobile application developers who focus strictly on security breaches or risks that can come infect a specific mobile application.
- Are Mobile Application Developers more or less likely than software developers to understand security concepts?Mobile Application Developers are less likely to understand security concepts because of the simple fact that this is such a new industry and there is still so much to learn about mobile applications and how hackers are able to penetrate through the security setting of a mobile app in order to hack them. It does not mean that software developers are better tailored to deal with mobile applications but it software developers do have more experience dealing with viruses, and security threads than mobile application developers have.
- Is it true that confidential client information will not remain on the Smartphone device after a session is finished?The only way that confidential client information would remain on the Smartphone device is if the mobile app developer wrote a code that does not allow private data to persist after the customer has finished his/her browsing session given the vulnerable nature of Smartphone devices. In this day and age, hackers and mobile application malware “experts” have the knowledge and expertise to break thru software so it is very important that individuals keep an eye on the mobile browser as well as the operating system for errors or any other signs of security breaches.