We live in a world where the lines between private and public data are blurred. With access to almost every aspect of data, businesses slowly dive into the lives of consumers and surprise them by showing them the products they’ve been looking for at random, anywhere. Data discomfort is slowly subsiding, people are still cautious and for the right reasons. Access to data also led to vulnerabilities within the application. For example, there are certain types of data that anyone can access. With the infiltration of hackers, and eventually, the users are deleted from the applications. The struggle to break free from app hacking and smooth access to security is ongoing. There are several ways that apps try to build the Great Wall and venture to a safe base.
Steps in securing your enterprise mobile applications
- Identify and find sensitive information
Recognize the sensitive data in your cloud. Contingent on your industry, the type of data to classify for additional protection may vary. For example, financial data or medical records will require to be secured on your corporate mobile app development. However, recognizing sensitive data and knowing where they are stored in the cloud is not always easy. In fact, 65% of those surveyed studying global encryption trends in 2021 said they had trouble finding where sensitive data is stored in their cloud. Cloud and remain accessible to your company’s mobile applications, your company must define policies related to data security. Several levels of classification, including “confidential”, “internal and” public. Then, take advantage of automation and intelligence tools to systematically initiate data auditing and categorization to gain greater visibility into your IT infrastructure. Finally, don’t overlook the human element in data security. Cultivate a culture of data security by educating your business users about what information your organization considers sensitive, how to handle it responsibly, and how to detect and avoid phishing and other scam tactics.
- Secure your network connections along the backend
Employee errors are a determining factor in data breaches, such as losing a device, leaving it unattended, or accidentally downloading an app that contains malware. It is, therefore, a good idea to act on the following: require two or more factor authentication implement biometric scans, such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning, impose high standards of the complexity of passwords, veterinary applications and manage their restrictions/access to employee devices, enable centralized remote locking and clear (shorter) session expirations.
- Encrypt data
Recently, only 50% of businesses have an encryption strategy to protect their cloud data. Encrypt data transmitted between devices, applications, and cloud servers via Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Triple Data Encryption Standard (DES), VPN tunnel, or over HTTPS. Using the most common methods of AES and Triple DES will also require effective key management. Hardware security models, which are devices designed for tamper-proof cryptographic processes and associated key management, are becoming increasingly popular for encrypting applications and data containers. Whichever method of encryption your company implements, overlap with a firewall, network monitoring tool, and/or endpoint protection software.
- Provide company use only devices
A business can adopt either a BYOD, Business Owned, Personally Activated (COPE), or Hybrid device usage model. While BYOD allows users to connect with a device of their choice, COPE is a model where companies provide employees with company-approved devices. Maintenance costs should be taken into account to provide each employee with a laptop, desktop computer, tablet, and/or smartphone, so that private employee applications and data storage do not interfere with business mobile applications. Their job is for your company to control device security, geolocation tracking, and configuration of settings without compromising employee privacy.
- Segment your cloud
If your business takes the BYOD approach to device usage, you can mitigate security holes incorporate mobile apps by containerizing employee personal data from corporate data onto their personal devices. More generally, regardless of the device usage model, your organization should take the Zero Trusted approach to use and access technology by applying security controls to access different parts of the cloud through apps.
