It is not an easy task to build the ultimate security system for mobile apps. Many people think that developing multiple layers of cyber-walls will be enough to safeguard any app from hackers and other external threats. However, as most of the traffic comes from smart devices and mobile platforms, it is difficult to protect the app from several sources of threats. It is common to notice exploitation of vulnerabilities in the app by malicious users and they often resort to reverse engineering and other methods to hack the applications.
Different modes of RASP programs
The advantage of using this technology is that it can be customized to suit your everyday operations. It is very light and does not consume many resources. In this regard, there is no threat of the app slowing down due to constant monitoring by the security program. The program can work in different modes and you can choose any one of them based on your individual needs. It is also possible to easily switch between different modes without writing any code. You can just alter the settings and change the mode of the security program. Let us take a look at how this program can offer protection for your app in different ways.
Off mode
Even though the purpose of having a security program is to offer constant protection, you may want to turn it off in some cases when you want to test run some applications. This is often used by the developers during the maintenance phase to test the vulnerabilities of the app for some threats. During this situation, all the requests will be allowed into the app without the interference of the security program. Not only that, but the threats are also not monitored during this phase and the program remains completely silent in your app.
Alert mode
In the alert mode, the program will monitor the incoming requests and inform the concerned administrator as soon as a malicious request is noticed. In this way, the admin team will have the option to manually intervene and take suitable action on the request. This is suited in some cases and admins may choose to use the security program in this mode for financial transactions and other important tasks wherein they cannot outright reject the requests from users.
Block mode
On the other hand, when the security of the app is of prime importance, admins can have zero tolerance for such malicious requests and completely terminate the session. The user can be blocked by the system for the next attempts also so that the app is protected from spam attacks in the future. This is often chosen by apps that can afford to end the user session abruptly without any issues. In some cases, the users will also be notified about such malicious action and asked to login again to reconfirm their identity. This can also be a good option for the users as it safeguards them against fraudulent login attempts in the long run.
Alerting the concerned security team
The advantage of using a runtime application self protection program is that you get alerts about attacks in real-time. The program monitors every request that comes to the app and also processes the way the app handles those requests. When any deviation is noticed from the standard procedure, an alert is raised and sent to the admin team. The program will also be able to block the requests as per your settings.
Generating log messages
In some cases, your team may not be available to check the alerts round the clock. Given this situation, it makes sense to get a log report of all the attacks done on your app. The RASP program keeps a log of all the activities and you can access them at any time. In this way, developers can look into the past attacks and analyze them to plug the loopholes in the system. They can fix the vulnerabilities of the app and ensure that the users are not facing any inconvenience due to the attacks.
Many developers start worrying about the security loopholes at a later stage after the app is running successfully in the market. At this stage, the developers have a lot to lose and they cannot compromise on the security aspect of the application. For this reason, getting logs about attacks is essential and it helps the developers to study the nature of attacks. If the attackers have used reverse engineering, the developers can use code obfuscation or other methods to distort the source code for the hackers.
In this way, the attackers may not be able to make sense of the code even if they manage to steal your code. This is a good way of protecting the apps from complex threats. The log messages can be used to train your security team to develop better apps that have strong security features.
Is this the best solution?
Even though this is not the best solution for every situation, it is still a wonderful option for many developers. There is no single security program that can provide complete protection for the web and mobile applications from all sorts of threats. You need a combination of different programs and coding strategies to handle such threats in the long run. In this regard, using RASP will save your time as it works within the app and detects the threats earlier than other conventional security programs.
Due to this ability, the program is able to provide better protection than other security programs. You can also choose to use other third-party security tools for scanning the apps and get valuable insights about the overall performance and quality of the app. In this way, your code can be fine-tuned to withstand future attacks.
Conclusion
While protecting your apps from cyber attacks, you should also take into consideration the time and money spent on the security systems. In this regard, there is nothing better than RASP in the current market. You can easily rely on such programs and offer superior quality protection for your apps from various online threats.
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