Build more secure mobile apps leveraging Guardsquare’s AppSweep

Mobile app security remains an extremely important consideration in a world where data breaches and apps repackaged with harmful software make the news seemingly every other day. Mobile apps that are not secure will not only lead to loss of revenue, brand reputation and customer trust, but can potentially cause serious problems for developers, including leaked app features, stolen intellectual property, and regulatory fines.

Android and iOS devices come with plenty of useful security features like an enhanced permission system with granular control, on-device storage for sensitive information like passwords, and biometric authentication. But while these features are intended to protect the user, a lot more needs to be done to protect the app itself from falling victim to malicious actors looking to reverse engineer and tamper with them.

App developers at large scale organizations as well as independent app developers invest a considerable amount of time building their mobile apps to maximize performance and user experience. However, while developers work to incorporate protections for known security risks, it’s the unknown risks that cause issues. Malicious actors are continuously finding new and unique ways to attack and get access to sensitive user data; one of the best ways to alleviate this problem is to ensure that mobile app security is an integral part of the app development process, instead of something that is done after the fact. That is where Guardsquare and its AppSweep tool come in!

What is AppSweep?

Guardsquare’s team of developers build and support a suite of mobile app security products for businesses across all major industries, including financial services, e-commerce, gaming, media, and more. With more than 900 customers in 85 countries and billions of protected users, Guardsquare focuses on advancing mobile app security to curb the rise of increasingly more sophisticated security threats.

AppSweep, the company’s mobile app security testing tool, helps developers quickly find security risks and, more importantly, provides actionable recommendations for fixing identified security issues in an Android app’s code and dependencies. Additionally, AppSweep incorporates built-in support for security standards set forth by organizations like the Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP).

How does AppSweep work?

After creating a project by uploading an APK, developers can use AppSweep to scan the app code and dependencies. The tool then generates a risk-based list of actionable recommendations to help users quickly fix any uncovered issues. AppSweep makes scanning results as intuitive as possible for developers, with the findings provided similarly to how you would navigate the app code in Android Studio or other Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Furthermore, it uses the OWASP Mobile Application Security Verification (MASVS) standard to create a framework that assists developers in navigating through the findings categorized by various levels of security. The level of security depends on how much the app deals with sensitive data, such as financial or user credential data.

It also provides insights and actionable recommendations to ensure that you build an app that is not only secure now, but will be more easily protected from future issues. AppSweep also manages to reduce the issue of false positives that plague other security scanning tools, allowing developers to focus on fixing the security issues that are most important, instead of wasting time sorting through a variety of false positives that aren’t actual problems.

Use AppSweep to build secure mobile apps!

With the goal of making mobile app security accessible to all developers, AppSweep is completely free and can be used as often as you want. Any developer can submit their app for analysis and get a list of issues and suggested fixes. Registering for AppSweep is free, and will help developers get access to a useful set of tools to help with their mobile app security journey.

Users can invite other team members and quickly and easily share reports and recommendations with them. Developers get the benefit of automated security updates by integrating AppSweep into DevSecOps pipelines. By using Gradle plugins, AppSweep can work with widespread CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitHub and Bitrise. You can also organize your app in different projects, compare builds, explore trends, and remove redundant issues. Last but not least, you also get integrated security analysis based on automated scans with each new build. Get started on your mobile app security journey today with Guardsquare and AppSweep!