Mobile Application Penetration TestingWhat is mobile app penetration testing?
Mobile app penetration testing reveals vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity posture of a mobile application. Most commonly, it is the safety and security of iOS and Android applications that requires assessment.
It is important for both developers and consumers of mobile applications, that appropriate levels of security exist. This is especially the case for applications that handle sensitive data and functionality. Mobile application security testing gives assurance that the expected security protections exist and are effective.
Mobile Application Security Testing
What is mobile app penetration testing?
Mobile app penetration testing reveals vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity posture of a mobile application. Most commonly, it is the safety and security of iOS and Android applications that requires assessment.
It is important for both developers and consumers of mobile applications, that appropriate levels of security exist. This is especially the case for applications that handle sensitive data and functionality. Mobile application security testing gives assurance that the expected security protections exist and are effective.
What are the benefits of mobile app penetration testing?
Increasingly, mobile applications are the default way that users interact with mobile devices. Applications bring rich and native functionality to a mobile device in a way that exceeds what is generally possible with a web application. The increased prevalence of mobile applications has resulted in increased levels of personal data and sensitive functionality being handled by them.
Mobile app penetration testing involves expert mobile security specialists following a rigorous methodology to determine the overall security posture of a given application. Put simply, these experts replicate the threat posed by an array of threat actors of all sophistication levels. They will be able to determine the resilience level of your mobile application to these different threat actors. Where security gaps are identified, you’ll be told in easy-to-understand terms what the impact is and – more importantly – how to remediate the problem. Where positive security controls are identified, an in-depth mobile application penetration test will tell you about that, too, so that you can keep on doing those things, safe in the knowledge that you’re doing things the right way.
There are many groups that benefit from a mobile application penetration test:
- Developers gain assurance that their product is safe and secure for their customers.
- Organisations gain assurance that a given mobile application is safe to introduce to their enterprise environment.
- Users feel safer with the knowledge that a mobile security test has taken place, which in turn allows them to confidently use the application.
Put simply, a high-quality mobile application penetration test tells you what a mobile application is doing right and what it’s doing wrong in terms of its cyber security posture.
Are your mobile apps secure?
Mobile applications are a regular part of today’s world. User behaviour and preferences are moving increasingly towards a world of mobile computing. The differences between workstations, laptops, tablets and phones are ever-diminishing.
Many of those applications store and process sensitive data and functionality. How, then, do we know they’re safe to use? A large part of that question can be answered with a mobile application penetration test.
About the service
Ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of a system and its data is crucial for mobile applications. Mobile application penetration testing plays a vital role in uncovering vulnerabilities and strengths in cybersecurity measures. Experts with knowledge of attacker techniques utilize these methods to assess mobile applications thoroughly. The OWASP Foundation highlights ten common weaknesses in mobile apps, which are thoroughly scrutinized during penetration testing, along with other potential vulnerabilities:
- M1: Improper Credential Usage: Most mobile applications have some form of user account or authentication, and need to store sessions and credentials securely. Misconfigurations, hardcoding and insecure storage of secrets can all result in attackers gaining access to user accounts and data.
- M2: Inadequate Supply Chain Security: Nearly all modern software isn’t built completely from scratch, but relies on a plethora of third-party libraries and existing frameworks. These can introduce security weaknesses into the application, resulting in official builds being shipped with known vulnerabilities.
- M3: Insecure Authentication/Authorization: In addition to the usual API authentication using usernames and passwords, mobile applications have access to a wider range of authentication and authorization methods, including biometrics. This exposes a wider attack surface compared to traditional web applications where a failure to secure these methods can result in unauthorised access to data and functions.
- M4: Insufficient Input/Output Validation: Mobile applications can be vulnerable to a whole host of vulnerabilities from SQL injection to Remote Code Execution through insecure deserialisation. This makes it imperative that all input and output is properly sanitised, filtered and validated before being used.
- M5: Insecure Communication: Any data transmitted and received by mobile applications has to be over secure and encrypted channels using the latest recommended secure protocols to prevent eavesdroppers from intercepting sensitive information. More sensitive applications such as banking and healthcare apps will also need to implement measures such as TLS certificate pinning to ensure that the application’s transport security is not compromised if running in an insecure environment.
- M6: Inadequate Privacy Controls: The ubiquity of mobile devices and their use for highly sensitive purposes means that it is imperative that PII is well-protected against both external threats as well as potential threats in the mobile environment: a widely-exploitable failure on this front can result in data breaches that cause reputational damage and harm users.
- M7: Insufficient Binary Protections: Even if an application has a secure configuration, it can still be reverse-engineered and modified by an attacker to disable these. It may also possible to debug and dynamically analyse the application while it is running to modify its behaviour. Preventing these kinds of attacks using obfuscation and anti-tampering mechanisms is vital for sensitive applications that handle important functions and data.
- M8: Security Misconfiguration: While both Android and iOS have a number of security measures that are available to applications, these have to be enabled and taken advantage of by deploying secure configurations.
- M9: Insecure Data Storage: Application data can be stored in a number of locations from devices’ internal storage and external SD cards to keychains and keystores. These locations all have various tradeoffs when it comes to convenience and security, and choosing the wrong option can result in there being a risk that user data can be compromised by an attacker.
- M10: Insufficient Cryptography: Mobile applications often employ cryptography to protect confidential information from other applications on the device. The cryptographic methods and libraries used have to be deployed securely and it must be ensured that only secure algorithms are relied on to protect data.
This list is not comprehensive, but it offers insight into the range of vulnerabilities that can surface in a mobile application during penetration testing.
A World Leader in CREST Accreditations
We are proud to be one of the few global companies that is fully certified by The Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers (CREST) across all key disciplines.
Our team of consultants have achieved the highest accreditations for Penetration Testing, Red Teaming, Incident Response services and Threat Intelligence. In addition, we were also the first organisation to be CREST accredited for our Security Operation Centre services.
A World Leader in
CREST Accreditations
We are proud to be one of the few global companies that is fully certified by The Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers (CREST) across all key disciplines.
Our team of consultants have achieved the highest accreditations for Penetration Testing, Red Teaming, Incident Response services and Threat Intelligence. In addition, we were also the first organisation to be CREST accredited for our Security Operation Centre services.
Why LRQA Nettitude?
At LRQA Nettitude, we understand the need for mobile application assurance. We also understand that not all assurance activities are created equally. We strive to always be a top tier provider of mobile application penetration tests.
- We have penetration testers that specialize in different disciplines. You will always get one or more testers that specialize in mobile application security specifically. You won’t find us putting web application penetration testers on your mobile application test if they don’t also specialize in mobile applications.
- We have the credentials to back it up. While we don’t think certification is the only important factor, we do understand its importance. Our team of penetration testers has a very wide array of highly sought-after practical certificates, including CREST and Offensive Security.
- We don’t use a cookie cutter approach. We take the time to understand your organisation, your objectives and your primary security concerns. We conduct your mobile application penetration test with those aims at the forefront of our mind.
- We provide a penetration test, not a vulnerability scan. The core value of a mobile application penetration test from LRQA Nettitude comes from one or more expert penetration testers thinking like an attacker and manually assessing your mobile application. We are big on exploitation: we will establish rules of engagement and then, within those rules, demonstrate the impact of a vulnerability by fully exploiting it.
- We have a team of enthusiastic security experts. We are passionate about cyber security and we understand the importance of a happy team that stays at the cutting edge. All employees have access to our research and innovation team, receive regular training and often go to conferences. This translates into the highest possible quality mobile application penetration test for you.
- We provide a highly consultative service. We are not a black box where a scope enters, and a report exits. The entire process is communicative and consultative. We pride ourselves on keeping our clients in the loop throughout the entire process.
- We report in a flexible and easy to comprehend manner. By default, you’ll receive a management report which speaks in terms of business risk, and a technical report which goes into more detail – including clear impact statements, a description of exploitation, clear reproduction instructions, and customized remediation advice. If you need output that’s a little bit different, then tell us: we pride ourselves on our flexibility.
- We offer executive and technical debriefs for every single mobile application penetration test we conduct, regardless of whether the test lasted for one day or one hundred days. Our penetration testers are trained to be able to speak in both technical and business terms.
- We aim to forge lengthy relationships. We want to be your cyber security partner, and that includes making our entire team available for you well after your mobile application penetration test ends, included as part of the service.
FAQ
We are often asked similar questions about mobile application penetration testing. We have collated those questions and answered them here.
- What is your lead time for a mobile application penetration test?
We have a team of expert mobile application penetration testers and they are always in demand. We match internal training and recruitment with external demand as efficiently as possible. Our aim is to be able to commence mobile application penetration tests within two weeks. Where there’s urgency, we can usually do what it takes to meet your deadlines.
- How long does a mobile application penetration test take?
The length of a mobile test very much depends on the complexity of your requirement and the level of assurance you require. Most mobile tests are at least three days per application. We are providing a manual penetration testing service rather than an automated scan. Speak to one of our experts in order to get a bespoke proposal for your mobile application test.
- What is your mobile application penetration testing methodology?
Our mobile testing methodology follows the key phases of reconnaissance, enumeration, discovery, exploitation and post exploitation. We do use automated tools in places in order to achieve breadth of coverage, but most of the value comes from manual penetration testing. Here, we provide depth of coverage and it’s what we spend most of our time doing. We are happy to provide more detailed information on request.
- How will you tell me what the findings of my mobile application penetration test are?
We are communicative and consultative. During the engagement, we’ll periodically update you with the findings so far – both positive and negative. Where we identify critical severity flaws, we will let you know via telephone immediately, and follow up in writing. At the end of the engagement, you’ll receive a summary of all findings. By the time you receive your in depth reports a few days later, you’ll have no surprises: we communicate as we go. After delivery of the reports, we’re more than happy to give you technical and executive level debriefs. Finally, you have full access to our team of mobile application penetration testers after the engagement has completed. We’re here to answer any security questions you may have into the future.
- Will you help me to remediate vulnerabilities identified during the penetration test?
Our team of mobile application testers understand how to build applications, as well as how to break them. We will give you custom remediation guidance for every vulnerability that we identify during the test. If you have constraints, we’ll work with you to understand those and propose an appropriate solution to any given vulnerability.
General Enquiry
FAQ
We are often asked similar questions about mobile application penetration testing. We have collated those questions and answered them here.
- What is your lead time for a mobile application penetration test?
We have a team of expert mobile application penetration testers and they are always in demand. We match internal training and recruitment with external demand as efficiently as possible. Our aim is to be able to commence mobile application penetration tests within two weeks. Where there’s urgency, we can usually do what it takes to meet your deadlines.
- How long does a mobile application penetration test take?
The length of a mobile test very much depends on the complexity of your requirement and the level of assurance you require. Most mobile tests are at least three days per application. We are providing a manual penetration testing service rather than an automated scan. Speak to one of our experts in order to get a bespoke proposal for your mobile application test.
- What is your mobile application penetration testing methodology?
Our mobile testing methodology follows the key phases of reconnaissance, enumeration, discovery, exploitation and post exploitation. We do use automated tools in places in order to achieve breadth of coverage, but most of the value comes from manual penetration testing. Here, we provide depth of coverage and it’s what we spend most of our time doing. We are happy to provide more detailed information on request.
- How will you tell me what the findings of my mobile application penetration test are?
We are communicative and consultative. During the engagement, we’ll periodically update you with the findings so far – both positive and negative. Where we identify critical severity flaws, we will let you know via telephone immediately, and follow up in writing. At the end of the engagement, you’ll receive a summary of all findings. By the time you receive your in depth reports a few days later, you’ll have no surprises: we communicate as we go. After delivery of the reports, we’re more than happy to give you technical and executive level debriefs. Finally, you have full access to our team of mobile application penetration testers after the engagement has completed. We’re here to answer any security questions you may have into the future.
- Will you help me to remediate vulnerabilities identified during the penetration test?
Our team of mobile application testers understand how to build applications, as well as how to break them. We will give you custom remediation guidance for every vulnerability that we identify during the test. If you have constraints, we’ll work with you to understand those and propose an appropriate solution to any given vulnerability.
General Enquiry