What are the most common pitfalls in mobile app security testing?

1 Lack of threat modeling

One of the first steps in mobile app security testing is to identify and analyze the potential threats and risks that your app may face. This process, known as threat modeling, helps you to prioritize the most critical and relevant vulnerabilities and design appropriate countermeasures. However, many mobile app testers skip or rush this step, resulting in incomplete or inaccurate threat models that leave gaps in their security coverage. To avoid this pitfall, you should conduct a thorough and systematic threat modeling exercise, using frameworks such as STRIDE or OWASP Mobile Top 10, and update it regularly as your app evolves.

2 Insufficient data protection

Another common pitfall in mobile app security testing is to neglect the protection of sensitive data that your app collects, stores, or transmits. Data breaches can have serious consequences for your app's reputation, user trust, and legal compliance. Therefore, you should implement strong encryption, hashing, and obfuscation techniques to protect your data at rest and in transit, and use secure storage options such as keychains or secure elements. You should also test your app's data protection mechanisms against various attacks, such as reverse engineering, tampering, or interception.

3 Inadequate authentication and authorization

A third pitfall in mobile app security testing is to overlook the importance of authentication and authorization mechanisms that control the access to your app's features and resources. Weak or missing authentication and authorization can expose your app to unauthorized users, malicious actors, or privilege escalation. Therefore, you should enforce robust and consistent authentication and authorization policies across your app, using methods such as biometrics, multi-factor authentication, or OAuth. You should also test your app's authentication and authorization mechanisms against various scenarios, such as session hijacking, brute force, or spoofing.

4 Poor network security

A fourth pitfall in mobile app security testing is to ignore the network security aspects of your app's communication with external servers or services. Network security issues can compromise your app's functionality, performance, or integrity, and expose your data to interception or manipulation. Therefore, you should use secure network protocols, such as HTTPS or SSL/TLS, and verify the identity and validity of the servers or services that your app connects to. You should also test your app's network security against various threats, such as man-in-the-middle, denial-of-service, or certificate pinning.

5 Unrealistic testing environment

A fifth pitfall in mobile app security testing is to rely on a testing environment that does not reflect the real-world conditions and challenges that your app will face. Testing your app in a simulated or controlled environment can give you a false sense of security and overlook potential vulnerabilities that may arise in different devices, platforms, configurations, or user behaviors. Therefore, you should test your app in a realistic and diverse testing environment, using tools such as emulators, simulators, or cloud-based testing platforms. You should also test your app in different network conditions, such as low bandwidth, high latency, or intermittent connectivity.

6 Insufficient security awareness

A sixth and final pitfall in mobile app security testing is to have a low level of security awareness among your app's stakeholders, such as developers, testers, managers, or users. Security awareness is essential for creating a security culture and fostering a security mindset that values and prioritizes security throughout the app's lifecycle. Therefore, you should educate and train your app's stakeholders on the best practices and standards of mobile app security, and encourage them to adopt a proactive and collaborative approach to security testing.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?