7 Essential Security Terms that Lead Mobile Apps to Success
Hi, this is LIAPP team.
Transforming for ‘untact’ era, our app services are now creating a more convenient world, providing users with unprecedented innovation and convenience.
However, it is often very unfortunate that innovative services collapse at once due to events such as 'unauthorized withdrawal of money in the app', ‘credit card information leakage' and ‘personal information leakage' as a result of competitive focus on merely providing convenience of the service.
Through this post, we will be covering 7 essential security terms that can help you to succeed in mobile app services.
I hope this content will help those who are unfamiliar either with technology or with security in recognizing and preparing for the essential elements of successful app services.
1. Tampering
Through tampering, the malicious users modify the service in purpose of using paid content for free of charge by bypassing the payment system or stealing confidential information of the service.
In addition, the more serious reason for Tampering(Modifying) apps is that hackers often distribute those apps to unspecified people, or black market, which can result in fatal secondary damage to mobile services..
2. Decompile
First, a developer writes the source code. Then, this source code is modified to the machine-recognized language and installed in the mobile.
The decompile technique is to convert these apps (which are made up of machine language that only a computer is capable of understanding) back into a source code that people can easily understand.
Since source code contains very important information in the service, malicious users analyze vulnerabilities in the service.
In this respect, decompiling technique is used to steal important information that are embedded within the source code.
3. Rooting
Therefore, 'root' can be a super user who can control everything in a smartphone by hacking into the administrator's rights.
Hackers root mobile devices when they decide this information is needed to acquire administrator rights to attack apps.
In order to protect your service, it is important to detect whether your device’s rooting is on when the app is running.
4. Virtual Machine
The original purpose was to allow users to enjoy smartphone applications on PCs, but hackers are using them as a means of hacking.
NOX, Bluestacks, etc. are main examples of virtual machine tools.
5. Debugging
Yet, hackers, or malicious users, exploit debugging as a conduit for analyzing program behavior and security vulnerabilities.
6. Code Obfuscation
breaking down and totally modifying the source code so that it is difficult for the third party to understand the code while keeping the original features of the app. It's a technique to protect important information from being stolen.
Changing the meaningful name on the class, method, field, etc. written in the source code to a name that cannot be easily inferred is also a type of code obfuscation technique.
Ex) Changing name 'Buy_Item' -> 'a'
However, be aware that obfuscation mainly takes a role of slowing down the time of source code analysis and analogy, not preventing attacks such as malicious changes in apps or memory changes.
7. Code Encryption
However, in the case of LIAPP, encryption techniques are applied not only to general files but also to source codes to provide a safe running environment for apps.
So far, we've learned about the most common and crucial security terms every mobile app service provider should be familiar with.
Please refer to the above information and prepare the essential security elements for the app service and grow into a successful one. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at support@lockincomp.com.
LIAPP, we will provide the best service possible.