Penetration Testing for Mobile Applications

Security in your iOS and Android Apps

Penetration Testing for Mobile Applications

Our mobile application penetration testing service is designed to identify and fix security flaws in iOS and Android platforms.

Authentication and Access Control Review
Code and Execution Safety Testing
Communication Validation and Data Encryption
Secure Data Storage Assessment

OWASP Mobile Top 10

We use OWASP which provides guidance on the most common and dangerous vulnerabilities in mobile applications and allows developers to take preventative measures to secure their applications.

Threat agents exploiting hardcoded credentials and improper credential usage in mobile applications can include automated attacks using publicly available or custom-built tools. Such agents could potentially locate and exploit hardcoded credentials or exploit weaknesses due to improper credential usage.

Threat agents that exploit authentication and authorization vulnerabilities typically do so through automated attacks that use available or custom-built tools.

Most modern mobile applications exchange data with one or more remote servers. When the data transmission takes place, it typically goes through the mobile device’s carrier network and the internet, a threat agent listening on the wire can intercept and modify the data if it transmitted in plaintext or using a deprecated encryption protocol. Threat agents might have different motives such as stealing sensitive information, conducting espionage, identity theft and more

The binary could contain valuable secrets, such as commercial API keys or hardcoded cryptographic secrets that an attacker could misuse. In addition, the code in the binary could be valuable on its own, for example, because it contains critical business logic or pre-trained AI models. Some attackers might also not target the app itself but use it to explore potential weaknesses of the corresponding backend to prepare for an attack.

Insecure data storage in a mobile application can attract various threat agents who aim to exploit the vulnerabilities and gain unauthorised access to sensitive information. These threat agents include skilled adversaries who target mobile apps to extract valuable data, malicious insiders within the organisation or app development team who misuse their privileges, state-sponsored actors conducting cyber espionage, cybercriminals seeking financial gain through data theft or ransom, script kiddies utilising pre-built tools for simple attacks, data brokers looking to exploit insecure storage for selling personal information, competitors and industrial spies aiming to gain a competitive advantage, and activists or hacktivists with ideological motives.

An attacker can manipulate application functionality by exploiting vulnerabilities in the mobile app supply chain. For example, an attacker can insert malicious code into the mobile app’s codebase or modify the code during the build process to introduce backdoors, spyware, or other malicious code.

Insufficient validation and sanitization of data from external sources, such as user inputs or network data, in a mobile application can introduce severe security vulnerabilities. Mobile apps that fail to properly validate and sanitize such data are at risk of being exploited through attacks specific to mobile environments, including SQL injection, Command Injection, and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

Privacy controls are concerned with protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII), e.g., names and addresses, credit card information, e-mail and IP addresses, information about health, religion, sexuality and political opinions.

Security misconfiguration in mobile apps refers to the improper configuration of security settings, permissions, and controls that can lead to vulnerabilities and unauthorized access. Threat agents who can exploit security misconfigurations are attackers aiming to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data or perform malicious actions. Threat agents can be an attacker with physical access to the device, a malicious app on the device that exploits security misconfiguration to execute unauthorized actions on the target vulnerable application context.

Threat agents who exploit insecure cryptography in mobile applications can undermine the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of sensitive information. These threat agents include attackers who target cryptographic algorithms or implementations to decrypt sensitive data, malicious insiders who manipulate cryptographic processes or leak encryption keys, state-sponsored actors engaged in cryptanalysis for intelligence purposes, cybercriminals who exploit weak encryption to steal valuable data or conduct financial fraud, and attackers who leverage vulnerabilities in cryptographic protocols or libraries.

Our Testing Methodology

Our approach encompasses manual and automated scans to detect the most critical vulnerabilities and assess the security of the entire application. We employ advanced tools and techniques tailored to the specifics of mobile applications.