How can mobile designs be tested for security?

Mobile designs can be secured through penetration testing, code review, and dynamic testing. Employ static and dynamic application security testing, adhere to security standards, and use secure code libraries. Ensure robust user permissions, implement strong data encryption, and follow secure communication protocols. Safeguard data storage, manage sessions securely, and provide ongoing security training. By adopting these measures, mobile designs can mitigate vulnerabilities, protecting against potential threats throughout the development lifecycle.

Mobile testing for security is now more important than ever, as we're seeing threats continuing to emerge in both the cyber, and real worlds. The temptation for bad actors to take advantage of increased mobile use is therefore increased. So implementing and offering a variety of security options (questions, 2-factor auth, SMS code verification etc) are all good starting points. Having a community of 'testers' is also a great idea, and offering incentives or rewards for trusted and verified individuals is also another good avenue to explore. Security training is also important, so educating users on safe methods of using an application securely is important (such as never sharing password/auth code, using a VPN etc) are also important too.

I would concur with the thoughts of this numbered article, and would highly recommend robust user testing in a simulated, rather than a controlled lab environment. Simulated environments whilst being somewhat controlled, can also help to uncover previously unthought of issues, and can highlight where deficiencies may be present in the user interface, or the back-end system. Further, simulated environments can invoke threats (in a controlled fashion) helping to pin-point where deficiencies may be present outside of the interface, and where they may be in the 'whole of application', helping to expose human weaknesses, and other related system weaknesses (third party verification, second factor verification etc).

It is vital that a security practitioner follows the guidelines, and the frameworks for particular areas of mobile security design and engineering, as a failure to do so would invite significant threat to the application and its users. Of course, standards, and guidelines are regularly revised, and updated when flaws, and vulnerabilities are discovered 'in the wild', so it's important to remember that whilst these 'guidelines' and 'frameworks' provide 'guidance' they are by no means absolutely definitive, rather they are 'guides', used primarily to provide a baseline level of understanding when it comes to threat origination, and threat mitigation in the digital ecosystem.

Having a full and robust suite of testing tools is important when seeking to run an application in a controlled, but simulated testing environment. All tools that are readily available should be utilised, and other tools if not already developed should be, allowing developers to understand where their weaknesses, and vulnerabilities may be present. The cost of utilising such tools should be considered in the context of 'risk mitigation' and preventing future problems, and issues from becoming bigger, and more complex, and costly later on. Security testing can be considered a 'small price' to pay for future peace of mind. Ongoing security testing should also be conducted through 'surprise' mock security attacks, and simulated scenarios.

A good way to test security vulnerabilities and flaws is by engaging a community of supporters/volunteers with an interest in contributing towards the ongoing security of the application. There are even crowd-sourced like applications which facilitate the analysis and auditing of applications, and even offer bounties or rewards for discoveries of such security flaws, or vulnerabilities. These bounty apps are a great way to have your app, and potentially its source code evaluated, and tested to work out where you may need to improve, or where there are gaping holes in your security. These services are offered on a 'fee for service' basis, and are usually a fraction of what you would ordinarily outlay through an in-house bug bounty program.