Digiteum Enhances Digital Safety: Advanced Security Options for Web and Mobile Applications

The digital space has never been as dangerous as it is today. The number and complexity of cyber attacks are growing every year, while organizations in the public, government, and private sectors very often do not have the necessary resources and experience to build comprehensive protection. One of the biggest challenges remains attacks on web and mobile applications, which can compromise system data, disrupt transactions, or even completely paralyze a business. This article is about ways to secure web applications. If you are looking for a reliable custom application development company to develop a web application, then this information will certainly be useful to you.

Top Threats to Web And Mobile Application Security

Let’s look at the main problems that can affect the performance and security of mobile and web applications.

Access Control Violation

Authorization gives the user the rights to perform certain actions in the system and also provides confirmation of these rights. If there are gaps in this process, a critical vulnerability known as broken access control occurs.

As a result of such a violation, users may gain access to system resources and functions not intended for them. For example, if an application allows an average user to gain administrative rights, this creates a huge security gap that can lead to data theft, modification, or loss. Such vulnerabilities arise for various reasons: configuration errors, IDOR errors, insecure session management, etc. Criminals easily find such vulnerabilities and use them to their advantage.

Cryptographic Failures

Cryptography is used to protect sensitive data during transmission: this could be credit card numbers, personal user data, etc. But data security can fail due to factors like weak algorithms or short encryption keys that make it easier for hackers to decrypt sensitive data.

Other examples of cryptography failures include weak password storage, weak transport layer security, weak SSL/TLS protocols, and insecure cipher suites that can leave an application vulnerable to attacks. Due to such vulnerabilities, hackers can easily compromise data or launch a man-in-the-middle attack.

Injections And Scripting

Such attacks exploit vulnerabilities in input data validation and inadequate processing. Attackers inject malicious data such as SQL queries, code snippets, or commands using application forms or URLs. This allows hackers to gain access to confidential data, or even manipulate the operation of the application and interfere with transactions.

Here are just a few types of such attacks:

• SQL injections for attacks on databases;
• Cross-site scripting (XSS attack). Injection of malicious code into a web page that runs in the user’s browser and allows hackers to intercept sessions, steal cookies, etc.;
• Command Injection. Hackers integrate malicious commands into system commands executed by an application. This allows them to gain unauthorized access to servers or certain functionality;
• LDAP injections. Attackers manipulate LDAP requests used for authentication and authorization.
• XML injections. Hackers integrate malicious content into XML data, allowing them to disrupt the application’s parsing process to gain access.
• Server-side template injection (SSTI). Attackers inject malicious code into server-side templates to execute malicious code.

Each such vulnerability can have enormous consequences.

Unreliable Design

This concept covers errors in application software design and architectural flaws that can be exploited by criminals. Such vulnerabilities arise when developers fail to assess all potential risks and security threats during the design and technical development of a product. Design problems can be caused by neglecting proper security practices and standards in order to speed up development.

An example of dangerous design: An application produces overly thorough messages in system error reports. This may be useful for support, but such reports can also be used by criminals who will try to use diagnostic data to plan scripting and SQL injections.

False Security Configuration

Vulnerabilities arise when application security settings are not well defined or deployed and maintained by default. For example, an application becomes vulnerable in the following cases:

• Security checks at any level of the application stack are not performed correctly, or permissions for cloud services are not configured correctly;
• Unnecessary functions, ports, services, pages, accounts, etc. are enabled or installed;
• Security settings in application servers, application frameworks (for example, Struts, Spring, ASP.NET), libraries, databases, etc. are not properly configured;
• Accounts and their passwords remain enabled and unchanged by default;
• The software is outdated or has not received critical security updates.

Practices for Web And Mobile Application Cybersecurity

The range of cybersecurity threats is constantly expanding. So mobile app cybersecurity practices must evolve just as quickly and flexibly. Good web app companies constantly work to create secure solutions, taking into account the design and development phase. Let’s look at the main directions of this development.

Securing Authentication and Session Management

Any modern web or mobile application must rely on a secure user login mechanism, which may cover two-factor authentication, hashing, biometric verifications, etc. It is critical to introduce strong and unique session IDs into your site, limit system latency, and protect your application from CSRF attacks.

Secure Authorization

The system architecture must ensure that users can only access the data and functionality that they actually need within their application-defined user role. It is important to implement Zero Trust architecture in the system.

Validation of Incoming Data

This is the best way to counter injection attacks that attempt to integrate malicious code into an application (for example, SQL, JS, or HTML code) due to vulnerabilities in input forms. To prevent such attacks, it is important to establish two-way validation: both on the front-end side and on the server side.

Maintaining High Standards

When developing a product, it is important to rely on the most current standards, frameworks, and recommendations for cybersecurity: OWASP, ISO 27001, NIST CSF, PCI DSS, GDPR, etc. These guidelines contain almost all the necessary methods for protecting web and mobile applications.

Regular Pen Testing

Product verification and testing is an integral part of cybersecurity. As part of pen testing, specialists can take on the role of hackers and try to find a vulnerability in the application. Such a check can be carried out using the white box method (the hacker knows the internal parameters of the system), gray box (only some parameters are known), or black box (the parameters are unknown).

Final Thoughts

Mobile and web applications remain among the top targets for cybercriminals. Research shows that critical vulnerabilities can be found in almost any such product: access control violations, malicious code injections, cryptographic failures, problems with software design, and security settings. It is worth taking care of application security at the development stage. We recommend contacting Digiteum, a web app firm focused on developing secure and high-quality mobile and web applications.

Joshua White is a passionate and experienced website article writer with a keen eye for detail and a knack for crafting engaging content. With a background in journalism and digital marketing, Joshua brings a unique perspective to his writing, ensuring that each piece resonates with readers. His dedication to delivering high-quality, informative, and captivating articles has earned him a reputation for excellence in the industry. When he’s not writing, Joshua enjoys exploring new topics and staying up-to-date with the latest trends in content creation.

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