If you own an iPhone or Android, you know what makes it
complete. Yes, these are mobile apps. Today you can hardly imagine
a smartphone without apps. From a simple application that tells
about the weather, to a graphically rich 3D game, smartphone apps
can glue you on your seat for several hours. Apps are popular among
most smartphone users. The app experience is not just a craze it
has become a passion that will be fade soon. On the other hand,
developing apps has become a powerful mean of generating revenue;
with increasing number of downloads, the revenue keeps on
increasing.
When ordinary mobile phones turned into smartphones, a new business
model, mobile application development industry emerged. Many
software development companies quickly became globally recognised
brands. Mobile application development proved to be conducive for
aspiring developers, and also for cyber criminals. Unfortunately,
they started taking an interest in developing malicious apps to
earn quick money. They took advantages of security weaknesses of
mobile platforms.
They found the way to enter into user’s smartphone through
free apps. Be it Google Play or Android’s Market or the
Apple’s iTunes, free apps are available for almost all kind
for activities. These apps are downloadable on smartphone within
fraction of a second and then they can access private information,
send text to premium numbers, etc. Of course, it is not too hard to
make an app targeting sensitive information. With an OS like
Android, which is better known for its openness, the security
issues turn out to be more critical. Android has mostly been under
the attack of malware.
Users who are not technically sound trust free apps, give
permission to apps to access their contact details, calendar,
physical location and other critical information and open a
goldmine to be exploited by attackers. Here, not only cyber
criminals, but legitimate companies also tend to do this to gather
as much data as possible.
How to get protected?
One can trust paid apps as they earn from you when you purchase
them. Major threat is from free apps. While downloading a free app,
users need to be vigilant about the permissions required by it. The
permission gives you a broad idea about the activities the app can
perform on a device. Sensitive permissions are: accessing address
book, calendar, geographic information, sending messages. They can
directly affect the user. When you download an app, it is your
responsibility to check whether the app logically needs these
permissions, e.g. a torch app does never need GPS access or why an
app with dancing elephant will need to access your contacts?
Rooting or jailbreaking also makes a smart device vulnerable. It is
like you have willingly unbolted the security doors in your device.
Until you are mobile developer, you would hardly need rooting or
jailbreaking your device. The best practice is you install an
effective antivirus that will keep on scanning your device.
For any kind of mobile application developmentyou should choose a right software development company
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