If you want to interpret the current security status of your infrastructure, then nothing can help you achieve this goal more than the use of penetration testing. It is one of the unique and fundamental techniques used by ethical hackers and potential cyber-security professionals to check the defenses or weaknesses of your security implementations.
There are multiple sections or disciplines where the penetration testing is gaining popularity, and some of them include; network, web systems, database security, and data protection. But one of the most terrific segments in which the use of penetration testing is gaining fame is mobile applications.
Multiple things account for the success or goals of the penetration testing, some of them include;
To exploit vulnerabilities among the app interfaces such as whether unauthorized access is possible or if it can be targeted by any malicious integration to compromise the overall security of the app systems. Some other goals can be accomplished with the help of penetration testing, such as ensuring the successful launch of the mobile app or eradicating any security loopholes once it is launched.
Today we will be discussing the top 10 practices for mobile app penetration testing and how it can ensure a secure future;
1. Putting Together a Detailed Security Testing Plan
The thing that will most certainly ensure the success of your penetration testing regarding mobile applications is coming up with an effective implementation strategy. Every mobile application infrastructure is different from the other, considering the overall build, dedicated app engine, and programming for the app.
This is why you must come up with a dedicated methodology for a particular app accordingly. OSWAP is an organization that has provided the industry with an effective layout of the penetration methodology. It is most of the way applicable for testing iOS apps, but the same set of applications can be applied to other operating systems such as Android or Linux.
2. Configure RIGHT Penetration Tools
The next stage of the mobile penetration testing brings into account the use of the right penetration testing tools for the dedicated application systems. Some of these tools are available for you to download almost free of cost for others you will have to pay a decent amount to get ahold of. Nonetheless, choosing the right penetration tool is necessary for the success of unveiling the present anomalies in the application systems.
3. Building an Efficient Testing Environment
Applications run on different web interfaces, platforms, and browsers; that is why there is a need for constructing a thorough testing environment. For example, Jailbreak is used for testing the weaknesses among the iOS apps and or root for the android apps. Now, although Apple has made it clear that Jailbreak won't be sufficient to break the security of iOS regarding their recent updates.
But successful penetration can still be achieved if the penetrator or professional knows what they are getting into. You can use different resources for conducting penetration testing over mobile apps such as for iOS use jailbreak, and for the android, you can trust the services of the root.
4. Time Management
You might want to give time management a serious focus while conducting penetration testing. The reason behind this is that if you are not focused enough, you might lose valuable time attending to the details or portions of the app that required only a fraction of your attention rather than those areas where absolute attention to detail was required.
5. Launch Consecutive Server Attacks
You might want to attack the base and test the relevance of security and vulnerabilities of the app over the hosted server systems or cloud technology. This way, you will be attacking the origin from where the app is downloaded and hosted and having detailed yet obligatory information regarding loopholes in server security. Nmap can be used for such type of penetration testing. Some of the elements that should be tested here include;
- Data transfer whether authorized or unauthorized
- Resource sharing
- Authentication tactics or steps in place between the smartphones and the servers
6. Be Thorough and Concise with the Testing
You may never want to rush things no matter what, and to make sure everything goes through according to the plan, don't try any shortcuts whatsoever. It might sound tempting to bypass a stage of the penetration, but you have to unveil any potential vulnerabilities within the app; otherwise, there will be consequences which you and the organization you are working for would have to sustain.
7. Launching Network Attacks
When taking into account the initiation of network attacks, you need to make sure that you use network sniffers for the collection of important data about the traffic on the network that will prove to be a milestone while checking network connectivity between the device and hosted servers. Not only that, but these will also compensate for the data packets that will reveal further information about what kind of attack needs to be initiated here.
8. Source Code Invigilation
To make sure that problems are not arising in the essence of the source code of the mobile applications, you need to invigilate it via a specialized code being layered onto the source code. This will create a backdoor that will allow you to observe the source code at a more internal level and to check it for potential flaws leading to security-related vulnerabilities among the application systems.
9. Keep Practicing your Penetration Skills
You need to constantly update your knowledge of the penetration testing to the latest standards and keep all the equipment and tools updated as well to ensure the best penetration testing practices.
10. Conduct a Dual System Analysis
To make sure that you have done everything on your end to make sure that a particular app is free from any vulnerabilities, conduct a binary and file-level analysis of the application. While conducting penetration testing for specific application programming interfaces, do check the systems that are weak in their implementation and files that have poor quality access controls. There is an important food for thought that you should always consider, and that is to make backups for all your progress with penetration testing so far to make sure that not even the tiniest of details go by without you first inspecting it.