Why You Should Include QA in Your Web App Development Process

The use of mobile applications has replaced desktop browsing. Thus, the development of mobile-friendly web applications has become an absolute necessity for businesses.

The ownership of smartphones and tablets increased in Australia from 11.1 million to 15.3 million in 2015. Ever since then, the numbers have only been rising. According to a survey, Australians spent 63% of their time on smartphones and other digital devices. Moreover, research conducted by Google shows that 84% of consumers use their mobile phones to help them shop even when they’re in the store.

When web applications are becoming an integral part of the recent retail landscape, it’s extremely important for every business owner to make sure that their web app is up to date.

How can I ensure that? The answer to this question is simple: through quality assurance.

What’s Quality Assurance (QA)?

Quality assurance is essentially an umbrella term that refers to a number of tools and processes used to conduct thorough testing of an application to identify all the bugs and errors that might cause a negative impact on user experience. The purpose of QA is to make sure that a web application runs flawlessly and without any glitches.

Best Practices for QA

To ensure that your web application gets you optimum results, work with IT experts to include these QA practices in the development process of your app.

Compatibility Testing: Your web application’s design should be mobile-friendly.

Performance Check: The web app shouldn’t crash under any circumstances, including instances of heavy load on servers.

Evaluate all Elements: Test all the features and elements separately to maximise security, instead of running security checks on the web application as a whole.

Benefits of QA in Web Application Development Process

Here’s why including quality assurance in your web application development process is necessary.

It Saves Money

A faulty web application can cost you more than a financial loss; you can end up losing your customers and suffering a blow to your brand’s reputation. By conducting thorough QA tests, you can save yourself all that trouble and some cash!

It Maximises User Experience

User experience (UX) is an important determinant of your app’s popularity. By making sure all glitches, bugs and errors are taken care of before the release of the app; you can make sure your customers have the best time engaging with your brand.

It Promotes Productivity

By conducting QA tests during the mobile application development process, you can fix the problems in real-time. Now that you know no unauthorised personnel can hack into your system, your customers’ information is safe and the app work flawlessly. You can enjoy peace of mind and work on other important aspects of your business.

Looking for a managed security and IT solutions company to run quality assurance tests on your web application? Get in touch with Lean Security today!

We offer a number of security solutions and test for web applications, including penetrating testing, vulnerability scanning and cloud security assessment.

Connect with us today to learn more about how we can help you keep your web app up to date!

6 Necessary Security Software for Small Businesses

A survey discovered that 1 out of 3 Australian businesses are a prime target for cybercriminal activity. And unfortunately, 56% of small businesses in Australia don’t have adequate protective measures in place to prevent cyberattacks. Consequently, they end up facing devastating impacts caused by data breaches, which include information theft, loss of customer trust, revenue loss and more.

To help you fortify the security of your system, we present to you six necessary security software that you must invest in!

1. Antivirus

Your computers and mobile devices are vulnerable to cyberattacks, and the presence of a virus can make your entire system useless. Thus, it’s extremely important to invest in antivirus software such as Norton, which will help you keep your system clean so you can enjoy maximum protection for your business.

2. Network Security

Network security protects businesses from falling prey to harmful spyware and losing data and critical information. You can secure your network by using an encrypted Wi-Fi, and making sure your data stays safe.

3. Anti-Spyware

Spyware are malicious software that hide in a computer system, spy on the online activity and extract critical information such as credit card details and personal information to possibly use in fraud and other criminal activities. To prevent your business’s operating system from the infiltration of spyware, you need to invest in anti-spyware software that’ll ensure the privacy of your system.

4. Firewalls

To prevent hackers, viruses and unauthorised personnel from gaining access to your system, you need to put up a firewall. The rules of firewall software are customisable; the business owner can add or remove filters such as IP addresses, domain names and more.

5. Bots Mitigation

Bots attack a business’s system to extract sensitive data and place spam posts on its website. With bot management and mitigation software you can identify if the requests to access your website are made by real people or automated bots.

6. Encryption Software

Encryptions are essentially your data turned into secret codes; encrypted data can only be viewed by authorised personnel, which prevents sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands.

Let Us Help You!

Fortify your small business’s security with the IT solutions provided by Lean Security!

We’re a managed security and IT solutions company based in Sydney, Australia. We offer our clients excellent penetration testing services, network vulnerability assessment and quality assurance services, to help them keep their security systems in top condition!

Call us at +61 (2) 8078 6952 for more information.

4 Mobile Application Development Mistakes to Avoid

Mobile applications have become an integral part of businesses in the recent digital landscape. They help you gain and retain consumers by allowing you to engage with them directly, assessing consumer behaviours, and enhancing their experience while interacting with your business.

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau Australia, more than 27% of Australian consumers use mobile applications to purchase products at least once a week and 5% of them do so daily.

But if the application glitches out, has bugs, takes long to load or experiences other types of errors, 51% of users are likely to stop using your application. This can lead to decreased conversion rates, loss of customer loyalty and a ruined business reputation.

To prevent this from happening, you should make sure you avoid making these mistakes in your mobile application development process.

1. No Data Encryption

Security of data should be your first priority when you’re developing an application for your business. One way to make sure that it stays safe is to translate it into a secret code, called encryption. Developers often remove the certificate validation while developing the app and the finished products end up without any form of data encryption.

This plain text is a vulnerable point all hackers try to exploit the first chance they get, and once they’re in your system they can access all your sensitive information. Thus, it’s absolutely necessary to include data encryption such as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol, in the mobile app development process.

2. Unnecessary Features

When developing a mobile application, it’s wise to only stick with features that add value to the app. The more features you include, the greater the risk of data breaches there’ll be. Avoid using complex programs, not only are they costly to maintain, but they’re also fragile and vulnerable to cyberattacks.

3. Weak Server Controls

Your mobile application works on servers that are either your own or belong to a third party. Weak server controls can fall prey to cyberattacks very easily. It’s important for you to take measures to maximise the security of these servers, and make sure no unauthorised personnel can gain access to the critical data.

4. Inadequate Security Testing

Security testing often takes the back seat with mobile application development. And even when organization conduct security test, they often make the mistake of treating their app as a whole instead of checking all the small integral parts of the system.

The importance of security testing during the process of mobile application development can’t be stressed enough! To prevent your data and your business from all kinds of security threats, you need to get in touch with a managed security and IT solutions company and have their team perform a few crucial tests on your app. Make sure these tests include vulnerability scans, such as penetration testing, source code assessment and network assessment.

Connect with Lean Security Today!

Lean Security provides clients with excellent mobile application penetration testing, network vulnerability assessment and quality assurance services to help them keep their businesses safe and secure.

Get in touch with us to learn more about how we can help your business thrive!.

The Impact of Data Breaches on Customer Loyalty

According to Norton, a data breach is an incident of compromised security where sensitive information is accessed by unauthorised personnel.

A study conducted by the Ponemon Institute states that, data breaches cost companies across the world an average loss of $3.86 million. This cost is made up of a number of factors that include loss of intellectual property, theft of critical information, damage to property, disruption of operations and most importantly, loss of customer loyalty.

Data Breaches and Customer Relationship

Customers share personal information with companies because they trust the organization to keep it safe and secure. No one wants their credit card information, purchasing histories or medical records leaked out to the world. When a cyberattack hits a business and results in a data breach, it leaves a negative impact on the customers’ confidence in the company.

A study conducted by Gemalto on 10,000 global consumers discovered that 62% of people believed businesses that hold their information are responsible for its security. When a company suffers a data breach and customer’s privacy is compromised, more than 70% of users stop using the service.

The Case of Yahoo!

Yahoo! was considered a digital pioneer and an internet giant until it was hit by multiple cyberattacks in 2013 and 2014. The data breaches affected 3 billion accounts and the hackers stole the customer names, phone numbers, email addresses, passwords and dates of birth. The attacks cost the organization a loss of $350 million.

The data breaches caused a loss in customer relationships. What made matters worse was that Yahoo! didn’t inform the public about the attacks for 2 years. Consequently, it lost its position as the internet giant to other search engines like Google.

Data Breach Response Plan

The threat of a cyberattack is always looming over your business, thus, it’s extremely important to keep your brand’s security system updated.

However, if a misfortunate event does happen and your organization suffers from a data breach, here’s how you can mitigate its effects on customer loyalty.

Be Transparent

Don’t keep your customers in the dark! Let them know what happened immediately because they have the right to know if their privacy has been compromised. This will show them the integrity of your organization and help can minimise the effects of a data breach on customer loyalty to a great extent.

Be Prompt

You should be quick on your feet after your organization has been hit by a cyberattack. Evaluate the damage caused by the breach; identify the vulnerabilities in your system and work to fortify the security of your business.

Let Us Help You!

Lean Security is a managed security and IT solutions company dedicated to providing clients with excellent services to help them keep their businesses safe and secure from data breaches.

Our team of experts can assess the technical vulnerabilities of your security system and identify what might be affecting it negatively.  

Through penetration testing, network vulnerability assessment and quality assurance services, we can help you keep your security system up to date.

Call us at +61 (2) 8078 6952 for more information.

Benefits of Using A Managed Security Service Provider - Infographic

According to the latest findings, more than 800 data breaches occurred in 2018 which was suffered by Australian companies.

Let’s take a look at a few benefits of using a managed securing service provider.