Mobile apps present security risks for regional businesses: Paladion

Security solutions provider, Paladion, has revealed that the increase in mobile penetration has in return created a new avenue for cybercriminals to launch mobile attacks.

 Paladion stated that with the uptake of enterprise mobility solutions, both internal and external threats, such as data leakage and network infringement, are on the rise which has a negative impact on a brand's reputation, as well as stock prices.

Rajat Mohanty, CEO & co-founder, Paladion, commented: "As businesses capitalise on new opportunities by providing mobility services, they continuously face security breaches. A recent study discovered that 90% of mobile banking applications for instance, have serious security problems that could potentially compromise user data. On the same lines, following a breach to one of their mobile applications, a financial institution turned to Paladion to ensure that all future applications were tested, compliant and above all secure for their customers."

Mohanty continued to say that the bank identified that its mobile banking app had been victim to a serious security breach, which put its customers at risk or exposing personal, financial details.

Along with mobile apps, the enterprise mobility and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) market is also a concern. Mohanty added: "While these devices might be empowering businesses and organisations, the many benefits that come with increased mobility, BYOD, has become a focus for cybercriminals to launch attacks. The increase in mobile penetration and the massive growth of an unregulated app market in Android-based devices have enabled cybercriminals to introduce infected applications."

To protect data and devices, Mohanty stated that management and the CISO must collaborate to map out policies and objectives, plus having third-party expertise can also be beneficial.

"Awareness sessions are also conducted and continuous communication is provided with development teams to help eradicate security issues with quick turnaround time and remediation validation. Thus, we build the trust and resilience needed to seize opportunities, reduce risks, and deploy new security models with minimal downtime," concluded Mohanty.