Mobile applications and operating systems are becoming much more secure in comparison to their counterparts nowadays because of the robust security features and technicalities associated with the major players in this particular industry. Multiple areas are requiring proper protection in this particular case for example local storage of data, sensitive information and several other kinds of related aspects. The OWASP mobile security testing guide is a comprehensive manual and listing of the guidelines for mobile application security development so that testing and reverse engineering will be dealt out very easily and there will be no chance of any kind of chaos. Having a very clear idea about the important factors, concepts and technicalities associated with mobile security testing along with OWASP mobile security testing are important and the following are some of the basic things which people need to know:
- Guide requirements and verification:
This particular aspect will be paying proper attention to the standards that have to be followed by the software architects, testing people and developers so that creation of the secure mobile applications will be carried out very easily. Different kinds of scenarios will be paid proper attention in this particular case so the different phases of the project will be understood without any kind of chaos. Developers over here need to follow different heads of security requirements outlined for the development so that test cases will be performed in a well-planned manner and application penetration will be eliminated from the whole process. This aspect will further make sure that following the compliance will be carried out very easily and strict adherence to the guidelines will be there at all times.
- The mobile application taxonomy:
The term mobile application will be standing for any kind of programme that will be running on the mobile device and specific types of mobile applications are explained as follows:
- Native application: These kinds of applications are native to the system for which they have been developed and will be closely interacting with the mobile device operating systems so that overall goals are easily achieved. They can always directly access the components of a device like a camera, sensors and other systems with the help of a software development kit.
- Web application: These will be the mobile applications that will be running out of the top of the device browser and will almost feel like the native application only. They won’t be interacting a lot with the device components and will be used in a sandbox system to make a lot of sense.
- Hybrid application: This will be the mixture of both the above-mentioned points and will be executing like a native application but the portion of this application will be running into the embedded Web browser. Hence, it will be capable of providing people with very relevant access controls in the whole process.
- Progressive web applications: This will be looking like a regular publication but will be coming up with the added advantage of developers working offline and getting the best possible access to the mobile device hardware. It will be capable of combining different kinds of open standards available on the websites to provide people with a better user experience in the whole process.
The mobile application security testing systems:
Security testing of the mobile applications has to be carried out throughout the phasing of development right from the very beginning until the release. Different types of testing systems are explained as:
- Blackbox testing: The tester in this particular case will be behaving like a real attacker and will be exploiting the best possible combinations and use cases which will be publicly available for discoverable information. It is also known as zero-knowledge testing
- White box testing: This will be the exact opposite of the above-mentioned points and will be based upon sophisticated testing systems with proper knowledge of the vulnerabilities, documentation, diagram, source code, fixes and so on.
- Gray box testing: This will be a sandwich form of testing in which the people will be provided with some of the information like credentials along with other areas which will be usually hidden.
- Vulnerability analysis: This will be based upon vulnerabilities in the application and the static analysis over here will be dealing with the detailed analysis of the source code along with manual and automation systems without any kind of chaos. Detailed analysis and dynamic analysis will be sophisticated because they will be done during the run time and will be helping out the people deal with the specifications like vulnerable entry points, weak features, loopholes and so on.
- Penetration testing: This will be the testing that will be done at the final or near the final stages and will further be involving the process starting from the preparation, information gathering, application mapping to the actual testing and reporting.
Hence, having a clear idea about the approaches and the best practices associated with mobile application security is very much important for people and some of the best practices are explained as follows:
- Assessment is one of the best possible things which people need to carry out over here to have a good understanding of the environment without any kind of issue
- Analysis of the code quality and security will also be very much successful in terms of helping out the concerned people to focus on security by looking at the root of the issues
- Penetration testing will be based on dealing with the defecting of real-life vulnerabilities in such a manner that tapping of the attackers will be carried out very easily to gain the access to data
- End to end device testing will be based upon dealing with the operating systems that will be covered over here
- Complete planning and execution will be carried out as per the best possible steps right from the preparation, execution to reporting and retesting which has to be taken into account
Hence, it is very much important for the organisation is to be clear about the basic technicalities associated with the OWASP mobile security testing and further, depending upon companies like Appsealing is a good approach to ensuring better coverage of the attack vectors and relevant actions so that swift element will be paid proper attention without any kind of doubt.
