Let’s Know Some Important Security Aids with Android Application Development

Android application development is not as straightforward as it may sound. With several styles available for Android as well as the collection of the accessible devices, we are still yet not perfectly sure if what works on one Android phone will also work on another phone of some other maker. Simultaneously, we cannot also risk the security of Android devices.

Here, we will learn about how to implement powerful security features in order to increase the safety of your Android applications, as well as enhance the quality of Android app development in your business.

• Avoid Component Exporting: Whenever possible, try to prevent exporting components. This reduces the surface attack of the application. You may even try using intent filters, however these also cannot be completely trusted upon for the total protection of the exported components. It is because of the well-prepared intent as it uses the fully qualified component names that have the tendency to bypass intent filters.

 

• Encode your Communication: It is always recommended to use the encrypted communication with the back-end app server. It is statutory that all certificates must have a key length of 2048-bits. Because of the use of the recent technology, a 1024-bit key length has become a weaker encryption method. An apt example of improved security and the best practices is through the use of certificate pinning – a new upcoming trend in mobile app development.

• Be Cautious of What Apps you Store on your Phone: Take care with applications you store on your Android mobile device. Be wary of parameters like the storage within the structured data, and the logged and the cached items. Generally known susceptibilities are unreliable storage of user credentials as well as the passwords within the system cache.

• Avoid Storage of Sensitive Data: Stay away from storing sensitive device on your Android device, as much as possible during run time. This will restrain mobile app hackers from cluttering your application. The whole idea is based upon data processing when needed, and deleting it right away when it becomes inessential. Required data should be encoded on the device. And, passwords should be stored securely in the Android Key Store.

• Treat All User-Inputs as Uncertain: As goes the case for web apps that for Android apps is no different, whereby all the user inputs should be looked upon as untrusted. You will be required to handle a number of issues such as cross-side scripting, OS command injections, etc. This needs to be taken care of by both the back-end application server and the client. As a piece of good recommendation, you should keep away from using classes with well-recognized vulnerabilities in the apps code.

• Refrain from Excessive Permissions: Avoiding excessive permissions, and editing only the ones that are really needed. Don’t use permissions that access personal information such as ‘access to contacts’. This is done to avoid any kind of data breach, or to avoid anything from lapsing.

Therefore, there exists no security standard that can indeed offer sure-fire security for your Android apps. This signifies that a detailed app development approach is imperative for your android application development and its security. Determine that your app development lifecycle includes various protection layers. And, it is also important to check if your mobile has a precise assessment checklist in order to identify any kind of vulnerabilities.