Mobile Application Security Testing

Nowadays people can do almost all their business, social operations, and financial transactions over the mobile network. Almost all companies have their own mobile applications. These mobile apps are very efficient and have seamlessly eased our day-to-day transactions. The only concern is about the security and safety of our data. Hackers have also evolved and have devised numerous ways to hack the transactions happening on the 3G or 4G network. There is the possibility that our data is available to hackers through social apps or other mobile apps. To ensure the security of these apps it is vital to perform security testing of the mobile apps, be they social, commercial, or financial apps. 

Need for Mobile Application Security Testing: 

• Detection and management of risks 
• Reduction of Costs 

• Earning Customer Trust 
• Adhering to Industry standards and regulatory compliances 
• The app launch process becomes worry-free 
• Working with third-party vendors to enhance security 
• Testing an enterprise’s security team. 

Mobile Application Security Testing Process: 

Effective security testing begins with an understanding of the application’s business purpose and the data it deals with. Then a holistic assessment is done to find vulnerabilities in the apps on different platforms by using a combination of static analysis, dynamic analysis, and penetration testing. The security testing process is as follows- 

• Interacting with the mobile app to understand how it receives, stores and transmits data. 

• Encrypted parts of the application are decrypted. 

• Checking the source code obtained by decompiling the app and analyzing the code. 

• To find security weaknesses in the decompiled code using static analysis (the automated analysis of a source code without executing the app). 

• Based on the results of the previous steps perform dynamic code analysis and penetration tests. Dynamic code analysis allows software teams to scan running apps and determine vulnerabilities if any. Penetration testing is a simulated attack on an app to identify vulnerabilities. 

• Understand the results of the dynamic analysis and penetration testing and assess the effectiveness of the security controls like the authorization and authentication controls that are used within the mobile application. 

Our team of experts in G-Info Technology Solutions Pvt Ltd utilizes static and dynamic analysis tools built specifically for mobile apps, along with manual methods of verification and analysis to find vulnerabilities in mobile applications. We focus on both the app and its back-end services and ensure that all aspects of the mobile application are covered during the security testing. After finding the security vulnerabilities we also help in finding the solution to fix them in the mobile application.  

Mobile Application Testing Methodology and Approach: 

 The g-Info Technology Solutions Security team was engaged to perform a time-boxed manual security assessment against the target application. This assessment involved a deep automated scan using automated scanning tools to discover common vulnerabilities, as well as manual testing. Manual testing includes validation of all issue types covered under the automated scan as well as checks for problems not typically found by automated scanners such as authentication, authorization, and business logic flaws. 

A Vulnerability Assessment is a method of evaluating the security of an application by simulating an attack. The process involves an active analysis of the application for any weaknesses, functional flaws, and vulnerabilities. Any security issues that are identified will be explained with an assessment of their impact, with a solution for their mitigation. The OWASP Mobile Application Methodology is based on the ‘black box’ approach. The testing model consists of the following phases: 

• Information Gathering: Gathering information is the first step when a hacker tries to get information about the target Mobile Application. Hackers use different sources and tools to get more information about the target.

• Threat Modeling: Threat modeling is a process by which potential threats, such as structural vulnerabilities or the absence of appropriate safeguards, can be identified, enumerated, and mitigations can be prioritized.

• Vulnerability Analysis: A vulnerability assessment is an in-depth analysis of the building functions, systems, and site characteristics to identify building weaknesses and lack of redundancy, and determine mitigations or corrective actions that can be designed or implemented to reduce the vulnerabilities.

• Exploitation: In computer security, a vulnerability is a weakness that can be exploited by a threat actor, such as an attacker, to perform unauthorized actions within a computer system. To exploit a vulnerability, an attacker must have at least one applicable tool or technique that can connect to a system weakness.

• Post-Exploitation: As the term suggests, post-exploitation basically means the phases of operation once a victim’s system has been compromised by the attacker. The value of the compromised system is determined by the value of the actual data stored in it and how an attacker may make use of it for malicious purposes. The concept of post-exploitation has risen from this fact only as to how you can use the victim’s compromised system’s information. This phase actually deals with collecting sensitive information, documenting it, and having an idea of the configuration settings, network interfaces, and other communication channels. These may be used to maintain persistent access to the system as per the attacker’s needs.

• Reporting:  Preparation of report as per severity along with a remedial recommendation. evidence against claims and recommendations after successfully exploiting all vulnerabilities we prepare detailed reports including Proof of concept and recommendations.

Mobile Apps Audit Test Standard followed: 

Scanning tools used in the Mobile Application Test possess the capability to assess OWASP TOP 10 Risk as under:  

OWASP Top 10 Risks (2016) Scanned in the Report 

Attackers can potentially use many different paths through the applications to do harm to your business or organization. Each of these paths represents a risk that may, or may not, be serious enough to warrant attention. 

 The OWASP Top 10 list consists of the 10 most-seen Mobile Application Vulnerabilities: 

M1: Improper Platform Usage 

M2: Insecure Data Storage 

M3: Insecure Communication 

M4: Insecure Authentication 

M5: Insufficient Cryptography 

M6: Insecure Authorization 

M7: Client Code Quality 

M8: Code Tampering 

M9: Reverse Engineering 

M10: Extraneous Functionality 

Mobile Application Vulnerability Rating Definitions 

Conclusion: 

It’s really challenging to perform security testing of mobile apps, as all challenges are to be kept in mind and a lot of studies and gathering of knowledge of all aspects of the mobile app are to be kept in mind. It is necessary to ensure that a mobile application is consistent and secure for all the end-users.  We at G-Info Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd., possess unique expertise in Android and IOS Mobile application security testing. Our OSCP Certified and CERT-IN impaneled team of seasoned professionals with more than 2 decades of experience will ensure to provide the best in the industry security testing and consulting to secure your mobile applications in order to strengthen the security posture of your applications.