UXDLAB SOFTWARE

Contact us
Menu

app security

Common App Risks And How To Overcome Them

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

As any app developer will tell you, making a successful app is a process of many parts. Naturally, the main stage of app development is the creation of the app itself – the design stages, the implementation, and the technical aspect of actually constructing the platform and interface. However, once this is completed, there are several further challenges to overcome before your app is released to the wider world or to your clients, at which point you’ll hopefully be able to turn it into an effective money-maker. These include plenty of boxes to tick, hoops to jump through, and legal regulations to adhere to… and it’s fair to say, that stage of the process can be a bit of a headache. While those final parts of the app development process have their risks and tribulations, there are plenty of other pitfalls to avoid at each and every step of the journey towards the app’s completion. For relative newcomers to the app development industry, this is often a case of trial-and-error, and hoping that you’re able to learn from your mistakes. A certain number of mistakes and drawbacks are all par for the course, and more or less inevitable. We thought we’d spend a bit of time looking at the most common risks, drawbacks, and mistakes which rookie app developers (and some more experienced ones, as well) make. App development is never quite as straightforward as any of us would like it to be, but by knowing which risks and potential issues to look out for, hopefully, we can avoid problems further down the line. Remember, in this industry (as in any other) common sense and caution go a long way, and taking your time to do things properly, reading the small print, and not rushing is often enough to see you through safely to the finish line! Let’s take a look at some of the typical risks you’re likely to face, and consider how best to avoid them becoming a problem in your development journey. Cheap Freelancers The app development industry, and creative and tech industries in general, have recently been turned on their head by the emergence of the freelance market. Vast freelancing sites with tens of thousands of users offer up countless app developers and techies, all seemingly able and willing to help you with your app for often very cheap fees. If you’re considering using a freelancer, we’d always recommend approaching with caution. Anybody can wax lyrical about their skills and achievements on a freelancing profile… but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they really have the skills they claim to possess, or that they have the kind of work ethic you need to ensure projects are delivered on time, and to an acceptable standard of quality. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t use freelancers at all – in fact, there are some really talented, hardworking people out there who really can save you money. It’s just to say that if you do decide to go down this route, make sure you vet your candidates very carefully indeed and make sure contracts are drawn up properly, evidence of their achievements is supplied in full, and you’re 100% sure they’re up for the job before you hire them. Intellectual Property App developers need to be aware of intellectual property laws and regulations before they proceed or wrap up a project – more than a handful of honest, well-meaning app developers have fallen foul of these rules, and have landed into a whole heap of trouble by not making sure they’re fully compliant. Make sure everybody working on your app or commissioning your app is crystal clear about the intellectual property status of your creation, and get everything in writing to ensure that no confusion arises further down the line. Furthermore, if your app is based on, similar to, or inspired by another existing app, make sure you’ve covered your back against any copyright cases by ensuring your app is different enough in all the key criteria. Legal Aspects There is a whole load of legal aspects to deal with when it comes to putting an app on the market. You really, really, really don’t want to end up getting stung by a lawsuit when you’re trying to make a success of your app and this, sadly, is something that does happen all too often in our industry. This is one of those areas where careful reading, ensuring everything is put in writing, and contract creation is key – just make sure you’re always taking the safer, more secure, and more sensible route before anything is signed off, and avoid taking any shortcuts when it comes to legality. As previously mentioned, a big part of this is guaranteeing that everyone involved is aware of their intellectual property rights. If the app creation has been a group achievement, ensure before the app is launched that everybody in your team has established what their royalties payments (if any) will be, and what percentage of profits they can expect to receive. If your app has been developed for a client, do they have permanent rights over the app, or will those rights be returned to the developer after a certain period of time, or if payments are not made, etc? This is the kind of thing you really need to be crystal clear on from start to finish. Our motto? If in doubt, get a legal expert on board to make sure every box is adequately ticked. Issues with Code Out of all the risks which come up time and time again in app development, bad code is probably the most pervasive, and the most irritating. It won’t come as a surprise to any app developer to know that the most common causes of poor quality code come down to inexperienced developers or code writers. And this brings us back to our previous point of involving freelancers with no guaranteed skills or experiences to their name. It’s always a good idea

Common App Risks And How To Overcome Them Read More »

Best Ways to Avoid Security Issues in App Development

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

In today’s world, we’re no longer safe from identity theft and hacking. When you’re developing an app, you need to be aware of this fact and try to give the best security options there are for your user. They might not appreciate it, but if you would have a security breach you’d definitely hear about it. So, keep on reading on these security problems you need to fix before releasing the app to the world. Do not rely on the operating system’s security Each operating system has its different standards of security, with different values that they like to stick to. For example, Apple likes to give their users only tested applications. They like to give this guaranteed screening of apps to their users, this being a core value in their company. However, you should do the testing yourself, because, even though they’re trying very hard to protect their devices, there is still malware that gets more advanced by each day that passes. If you’re thinking about starting your app on Android, you need to know that they have more of a ‘free will’ sort of value. That means that they allow most apps to get on the Google Play Store, and leave users to decide on their own which app is better than the others. They do that through reviews and they let other users know what they personally think of the app. Anyway, the idea is that you should do your own testing, even though operating systems usually offer you this option as well. You should test out the GPS, the camera or any sensors the user needs when he/she is navigating an app. If you’re releasing the app to Apple’s operating systems, you should turn off the NSLog, so that hackers cannot easily access your app. A bonus for your customers is that it also makes the app work faster. Do not trust in other people when they write code We don’t mean your hired company that is working on the development of the app, but code that is available in the industry so you can build upon it to build the app. A lot of hackers are looking more and more into identity theft, and infiltrating in an app’s security is one great way of stealing info from phones. That’s why they might build code in hope that someone will buy it and they’ll be able to get the info they want. We’re not saying you shouldn’t buy code, but verify the code for phishing schemes as well as do some research on the person you’re buying from. Make sure your server is safe All apps need some sort of info from their users, and all of that data needs to be stored in a safe environment. That’s why most app developers use a server which they connect to. So, connect to a server that is secure via SSL certificates. You can even make sure they use encryption when handling data so that your users feel safe when using your app. You should test out the app with a more advanced When testing your application, you might want to consider an EMM sort of testing (enterprise mobility management) which allows better security that other testing available on the market. They will start the testing by making your app fail proofed for jailbroken or rooted devices. This sort of phones is very dangerous for your application, because it gives easy access to malware. The EMM will help you figure out what you can do when the app gets on this sort of phone and protect it against bugs. This is not the only thing EMM can do for you, it can also help you figure out which server is most fit for you, considering your security needs, as well as figure out what other issues you are vulnerable to. If EMM isn’t the right fit for you, make sure you make your research what is the best fit of security for your app, depending on the features you need to include on it. There are a lot of worthy security testing that will help you get the best out of your app without putting your user’s data in jeopardy. Conclusion Security is a very important issue when developing an app. You should take in account all security testing there is and do the testing yourself. If you use code from other people, make sure you did research on the seller’s past, because they might be a hacker trying to obtain sensitive information. Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/best-ways-to-avoid-security-issues-in-app-development/

Best Ways to Avoid Security Issues in App Development Read More »

How to Improve Your Mobile App Security Knowledge

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

With the increasing use of smart phones all across the world has created demands of high-end functionality, an uncompromising handiness and extra ease with less effort by its users which has boosted demand of more innovative mobile apps. On the other hands, it becomes a key necessity for mobile users to protect their valuable mobile data getting hacked from mobile hackers. Based on one survey, mobile hackers have successfully hacked many high-end and most popular apps on the app store as well as the play store. There are several popular apps, including iOS apps and Android Apps suffering from vulnerability problems, thus, it becomes a matter of concern to make sure that what makes your app secure? Hence, as a mobile app developer, it becomes essential for you to enhance the security of your app in order to give your users assurance of complete security and let them engaged to use your app for the long-term. Most of the app users left using app due to the lack of security of their mobile information. Hence, as become a mobile app developer or a mobile app development company, you should increase knowledge of mobile application security. Things to consider for increasing your Mobile App Security Knowledge: Know about Mobile Code Security Risks Hackers performing malware activities normally tap bugs in the coding and design or vulnerabilities of their targeted app. Prior to exploit the vulnerability, hackers mostly tend to acquire an app’s public copy to overturn its functionality. They revised popular apps and re-launched it on third-party app stores with malicious code to attract the users those are not aware of such tricks to install the app. Thus, it becomes vital to use tools that help developers to find and overcome security vulnerabilities and set their apps from getting tampered or reverse engineering. Mobile app developers should know about the risks of app code which is mainly vulnerabilities and malicious functionality. The malicious functionality category is a harmful and unwanted code behaviors list that becomes cautiously positioned in an app that trapped users to install it. Users are unknown of such trap and think that they installed a game or an app, but, actually, they installed phishing UI or unknown spyware. The malicious functionality includes data retrieval, activity monitoring, UI impersonation, unauthorized dialing or network connectivity or SMS or Payment, Time bomb or system modification. The vulnerabilities of mobile security are leakage/storage of sensitive data, transmission of sensitive data unsafely, and hard-coded passwords. The mobile app developers should aware about the distinct layers of mobile code security stack that includes the infrastructure layer, operating system, hardware as well as application layers. Know about the Security of Your App Data Normally, mobile apps access data, documents and other useful information are stored on the mobile device. In case of lost of mobile, it becomes harmful for data to loss or shared or misuse. In order to prevent valuable information, encryption of mobile data is a useful way for data security within the sandbox of the app that protects it from malware and other types of unauthorized access. In order to manage app data sharing on the mobile device, it requires encrypting and controlling the individual data elements. Know about the Security of the Device The security of the device is equally important to understand. The mobile app sandbox is dominant in the recent mobile operating system design that requires being protected. Rooting the device causes the harm to the original security model and thus, it is necessary to protect the device from access important data. Besides, rapidly increasing jailbreak technology utilizes to evade detection, hence, deal with such technology is vital to prevent mobile devices from big threats. Moreover, the malware of mobile is not depends on the jailbreak technology every time, hence, in mobile apps, unnecessary use of permissions granted by the users or by default can provide rogue app access or malware to basic services such as SMS used to help scam activities. Thus, app developers should think about the up-to-date intellect sources to manage the associated risk using their app. Know About Your App Testing & Security The most important part of your app development is to make throughout testing of your app. It becomes vital not to hurry to launch your app without checking for its seamless coding and accurate testing. You can use app security tools such as AppScan to make through analysis of your app and validate its behaviors prior to its release. You can use such tools to check security issues of your app. Take help of app security expert to examine your code to identify and fix the bugs, if any in your app before its release. Ensure your app is perfect as far as security concerns. App testing using a third-party app security testing tool helps you to make your app free from bugs and helps in enhancing your app security. Conclusion Improving knowledge of mobile application securities helps mobile app development companies and developers to develop highly secure apps to prevent it from vulnerability. To secure the data of users, app security is the key concern in a foolproof system development life cycle. Improving app coding security knowledge helps you in developing highly secure apps necessary to prevent valuable information of your app users and increase their trust and interest in your app. Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/improve-your-mobile-app-security-knowledge/

How to Improve Your Mobile App Security Knowledge Read More »