What Hackers Look for in a Mobile App

When we talk about hacking, it usually conjures up images of a desktop computer or a large organisation’s mainframe. Many of us assume our mobile phones are safe. That isn’t the truth.

71 percent of all fraudulent transactions occurred from mobile applications and mobile browsers in the second quarter of 2018. According to a 2016 report on mobile security by Intertrust, mobile app hacks and breaches are going to cost $1.5 billion by 2021.

There are many reasons why cybercriminals want to hack your phone—eavesdropping, stealing money, stalking, blackmailing; the list goes on. How they go about it is what you should be aware of.

Here are some vulnerabilities hackers look to exploit in mobile apps.

Lack of Multifactor Authentication

The lack of multifactor authentication can be a serious security risk when users have simple and insecure passwords. Without second or third security validation steps, hackers only require a little bit of your personal information to get into the mobile app and access your data.

Insecure Data Storage

Storing your data securely is important if you wish to minimise the risk of hacking. Carelessness or errors when storing passwords and other personally identifiable information is a pretty common vulnerability that hackers exploit.

Insufficient Encryption

Failure to include encryption or cryptographic can be a big mistake. Without encryption, hackers find it a breeze to access secure information.

Client-Side Code Injection

Even a single line of code sent through a form could allow hackers to exploit server-side vulnerabilities in the application.

Reverse Engineering

Hackers who gain access to an app’s source code can reverse engineer it to build an identical one. Users who then download and use the clone app are infected with malware.

Do you have any doubts about your mobile app’s security? Feel like it could do with a hacking test?

Lean Security is a trusted penetration testing provider. Whether it’s a mobile application penetration test, a web application penetration test or an external network penetration test, Lean Security is the right partner for your business.

As part of our mobile app penetration testing service, we conduct a mobile client assessment, a network assessment, and backend web service assessment. All clients will then be provided with a detailed technical report.

Get in touch with us today! Call +61280786952

5 Reasons Why Cloud-Based Security is Right for Your Business

Cloud-based security provides a fresh approach to detecting and mitigating security threats for businesses today. Cloud-based security entails the use of a third-party security provider that deploys a cloud platform in front of the organisation’s private security infrastructure.

Here are five reasons why your business could do with cloud-based security.

Simplicity

Cyber threats have evolved and tackling them with the right response is getting more complicated.

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks—cyberattacks that deny legitimate users access to information systems, devices, or other networks—that come from within the data centre require lengthy and complicated responses. Moving the point of mitigation to a third-party cloud platform allows organisations to neutralise the complexity of securing every part of their infrastructure from DDoS attacks.

Scale

The large-scale security infrastructure that cloud providers have at their disposal greatly outweighs any measures an individual organisation can make. Ensure that your third-party cloud security provider has a large total capacity on their platform by checking the daily traffic it delivers.

Threat Intelligence

A security firm that specialises in cloud-based security will have a larger database on potential cyber threats than an organisation or agency will. Their intelligence responses and measures—new attack signatures; improved web application firewall rules—will be up-to-date and experienced.

 

Cost

The size and cost of an infrastructure required to address continually evolving cyber attacks is larger than most organisations would prefer. Moreover, upgrading the infrastructure to match hardware and software changes, and newer user-interfaces cost businesses a lot of money.  Cloud-based security allows organisations to exchange costly upfront expenditures for an operational expense that is low-recurring.

Internal Security Risks

External hackers aren’t the only enemies organisations have to deal with. Internal threats can often be more devastating and costly for businesses.

One of the reasons why this is the case is that insiders don’t always threaten the organisation’s security intentionally. Insiders have access to sensitive information on a regular basis. They may be familiar with the ins-and-outs of the company’s security protocols. Social media posts made by insiders is a frequent source of information leaks.

Lean Security is a trusted cyber security partner when it comes to delivering the latest in Cloud WAF Managed Service. Our cloud-based solution monitors inbound traffic in real-time 24/7 and analyses it in a timely manner. It also identifies possible defects in your application that could pose a threat to your information security.

If you need security testing services or a penetration testing provider for your organisation, get in touch with us today. Call +61280786952.

3 Ways You Can Stay Secure on MMO Games Online

Video games are certainly having a moment these days. 2.4 billion people played video games in 2019. As if that number was not staggering enough, Patriot Act’s Hasan Minhaj has reported that the gaming industry generates $139 billion in revenue a year. That’s more than the worldwide box office, music streaming and album sales, the NFL, the NBA, the MLB, and the NHL’s combined revenue of $99 billion!

With that many people and that much money involved there are bound to be security risks. Massive multiplayer online games—MMOGs like Fortnite—have a ridiculous number of players around the world. However, MMOGs have been notoriously exploited by hackers and criminals for money over the years.

As MMOGs become more and more popular, the need for tighter security increases. Here’s a few things you can do to avoid falling prey to online game fraud.

Use Unique Emails for Fan Sites and Forums

Scammers get easy access to loads of gamers’ email addresses from websites that are peripheral to the video game. Fan sites and online forums, have huge followings and low levels of security, making them a scammer’s gold mine.

Once they have your email, they send out phishing email scams that send MMO players authentic-looking email warnings about their security being compromised. The email informs the players that their passwords need to be reset. Once the player enters their old password in order to reset it, the attackers will use it to exploit as many of the victim’s online accounts as possible.

To protect yourself from being exploited by phishing emails, make sure to use a unique email address for fan sites and forums. Then use unique emails for every MMOG you play. This way, the access to the email on the fan site doesn’t allow access to any MMOG that you play.

 

Make Strong Passwords

Making strong passwords that aren’t words in the dictionary is a must. You should also make sure to fit non-alphanumeric symbols in your passwords.

Only Play Well-Known Games

Games that you haven’t really heard of and look low-budget and sketchy should probably not be trusted. Beware of any suspicious links and pop-ups on those games and their websites. Don’t click on them!

Maintaining tight cyber-security measures and protocols is a must for multi-platform and multi-user video games.

Lean Security is a trusted partner when it comes to delivering the best in online gaming security. Our protected application mitigates risks from exploited micro transactions, cheating, vandalism, private data theft, and more.

If you require security testing services or a mobile application penetration test for your game, get in touch with us today. Call +61280786952.

5 Most Common Types of Application Attacks

A Beginner’s Guide to External Penetration Testing

Software vulnerabilities are more common than you think. They’re usually introduced during the software development and implementation phase. Web Application security is the area of most risk from a security breach standpoint, therefore, external penetration testing is very important to protect your system from getting compromised.

External pen testing involves reviewing vulnerabilities that could be exploited by external users without the appropriate rights or credentials to access a system. If you’re not familiar with this concept, here’s a guide containing three crucial stages of external penetration testing:

Planning

The planning stage involves deciding the scope of the project. The client provides target information, which includes IP addresses, URLs, and decides areas that require rigorous testing with their service provider.

Furthermore, a meeting is conducted with the client to review the rules of engagements, decide the project timeline, establish goals, and document any limitations. It helps to ensure that the pen testing process will go smoothly and prevent disputes.

Execution

There are five phases of external pen testing process:

Reconnaissance: This phase involves open-source intelligence gathering to identify any sensitive information such as email addresses, usernames, software information, etc. Testers also look for data that shouldn’t be available to the public.

The objective is to gather maximum information to use during the subsequent phases of external pen-testing. It also helps create a richer profile of an organisation’s security strengths and weaknesses.

Threat Modelling: This phase involves evaluating the type of threats surrounding the system of an organisation. Learning about the severity and types of threat helps understand risks and determine an attack path similar to real-world attacks.

Vulnerability Analysis: This analysis involves discovery and enumeration of all in-scope applications. Using automated and manual techniques, testers aim to identify existing vulnerabilities and previously published weaknesses of the system.

Every service is manually examined and tested for default credentials. Moreover, an unauthenticated portion of web applications is carefully inspected for vulnerabilities.

Exploitation: The tester attempt to exploit all vulnerabilities identified during earlier stages to penetrate inside the system, just like any cybercriminal would. It helps to create a realistic risk profile and to analyse the probability of attack chains.

Moreover, it also tests the effectiveness of mitigating controls that are placed to deter these types of attacks, if any.

Post Exploitation: Once the exploitation phase is completed, the collected information is used to rank identified vulnerabilities. Creating a list that prioritises these risks helps to formulate an effective plan that will help to eliminate these weaknesses to keep the system secure.

Post-Execution

Once the execution stage is completed, the pen testing service provider will provide a document that contains all their findings. The assessment report will include critical issues discovered, risk profiles, and overall security levels of the organisation.  

It will also contain remedial actions and suggestions, among other information that can help an organisation to mitigate these issues. These reports go through quality assurance and address questions pertinent to assessment output to facilitate the organisation to take appropriate steps.

Looking to improve the security of your systems by conducting external pen testing? Well, let us at Lean Security help you with the support you need. Protect your sensitive information from cybercriminals by hiring our top-quality external penetration testing services. To find out more, get in touch with us today!