Mobile Application Penetration Testing
Evaluate the security of your IOS or Android application with a Mobile Application Penetration Testing
Mobile Application Penetration Testing best services in UK
Our specialist penetration testers use a combination of automated and manual testing to assess iOS and Android applications. The OWASP Mobile Security Guide and eWPT methodologies are used together with our own proprietary methodology and checks. Our testing approach has two main objectives; to security assess the installed mobile app, and the APIs that manage the information that is sent to and from the app. Mobile applications are often the easiest way for customers to interact with your business, through apps that connect users or offer services, the concepts are endless. Therefore security testing against applications that house sensitive data or parse high amounts of traffic is mission-critical.
Mobile applications are developed at pace which means best practices can be missed and security hindered. Hackers have begun building automating attacks against allowing them to get access to data at scale, so applications don’t have to be a target of a specific hacker but part of an automated campaign.
Penetration Testing, also known as a pen test or ethical hacking, is a simulated cyber attack against computer systems performed using manual and automated technologies to systematically compromise servers, endpoints, web applications, wireless networks, network devices, mobile devices and other potential points of exposure.
Mobile Application Penetration Testing – What do we test for?
The mobile app pen testing methodology can be thought of as having major stages as given below.
Discovery and planning
- In the discovery stage, the testers will gather information about the app and the objectives of the testing to create threat models. The type of app (native or hybrid), its network interfaces, user data stored by the app, etc. need to be considered in this stage. It is an important stage for deciding on the testing roadmap.
Assessment
- The first step is to look for basic vulnerabilities in the mobile app such as insecure communication, encryption vulnerabilities, platform misuse, etc. The mobile app is analysed before and after installation using assessment techniques such as:
- Static and Dynamic analysis
- Local file analysis
- Endpoint analysis
- API analysis
- Web server and traffic analysis
Exploitation
- In this stage, mobile app penetration is attempted. Depending on the methodology being used, in this stage, the testers will use manual and automated testing tools to reveal the vulnerabilities in the mobile app.
There are several pen testing security checks and frameworks tools available in the market. Security teams can help you setup the right scope.
- The OWASP Mobile Security Testing Guide (MSTG) provides mobile application security analysts with a reference guide for mobile pen testing.
- The manual details Android and iOS mobile application security testing based on MASVS.
- OWASP Mobile Security Checklist ties together the MASVS and the MSTG.
OWASP Mobile Security Checklist offers several enhancements.
- Architecture, Design and Threat Modelling
- Data Storage and Privacy
- Cryptography
- Authentication and Session Management
- Network Communication
- Environmental Interaction
- Code Quality and Build Setting
- Authentication and session implementation
- Static analysis of the application binary
- Jailbreak detection
- Broken access control
- SSL pinning countermeasure
- Testing the APIs for injection
- Resiliency Against Reverse Engineering
Mobile App Pen Testing Benefits
Benefits of using penetration testing for mobile applications
- It helps reveal critical vulnerabilities – Often, it is difficult to imagine that the mobile app you have developed has many vulnerabilities. Hence, the results of penetration testing can be surprising. It can reveal unknown vulnerabilities that when fixed in time will help make the mobile application more secure.
- It helps in preventing future attacks. – When vulnerabilities are uncovered, mobile app developers can release security patches to treat the vulnerabilities, thus preventing future attacks. Since cyber-attacks are becoming more vicious, preventing them can help you save data, money, and brand reputation.
- It helps to test the incident response plan. – When an attack is simulated in a controlled manner, it also helps to test whether the security incident response plan created by the company is enough to withstand an actual attack.
- The mobile app can be launched with more confidence. – When you know that all known vulnerabilities have been identified, fixed, and mitigated, you can launch the app with more confidence knowing that it is not susceptible to any severe threats.
Mobile application penetration testing
A very effective method to identify the vulnerabilities in a mobile app is Mobile application penetration testing. It is a holistic and flexible approach that helps in securing your mobile apps. Choosing the right type of penetration testing methodology is not about deciding which one is better, it is more about determining which methodology will give you the best coverage and efficiency with respect to your security goals.
Mobile Apps Security Testing & Instant Online Reporting
Each testing phase builds upon the other that results in the full attack surface of the web application and gives you the information that you need to action and reduce your security risk:
- API and app mapping and analysis
- Attack vector discovery
- Vulnerability identification and exploitation
Successful application security testing is dependent upon mapping the entire app’s functionality and touchpoints from an unauthenticated perspective and from an end user’s perspective.
Vulnerabilities are identified by exploiting them. We go beyond the OWASP and advise on defense-in-depth security approaches so that you can strengthen the application if a vulnerability was introduced.
In-depth dynamic security testing with multiple user levels gives us greater application visibility and coverage. This approach gives us access to wide-ranging functionality that could contain a variety of vulnerabilities that lead to sensitive information exposure.
The web app penetration testing service is delivered through our Informer platform. You can start to remediate vulnerabilities as soon as our testers find them and connect Informer to Jira for automatic ticket creation for your developers to get to work on fixing issues without the need to access Informer.
A summary of the test is provided for each test and gives you a non-technical overview of the results of the test.
For each vulnerability discovered, Informer provides a:
- Description of the finding
- Evidence detailing the location and parameters affected
- Screenshots
- Remedial action and recommendations
- References to more information if you need to dig deeper
If you would like a PDF penetration testing report, you can download that in a number of report formats at any time during or after the test.
How can we Help?
Cyber Legion provide a continuous cycle of Penetration Testing combined with remediation via Secure Client Portal, to protect/enhance your assets and help improve the organization security posture.
We have deep expertise in application security, mobile apps and network pen testing. We work specifically to help improve the security of our clients and offer comprehensive security testing that highlight issues in a detailed and intelligible manner.
Our testing methodologies are based on well known security Frameworks and specifically designed to remove the risk of inconvenience during the testing process and keep you up to date as the test progresses. We work directly with our clients to ensure the best possible outcome of all engagements.
FAQ’s
What is penetration testing?
Penetration tests (or pen tests) are attacks on your companies’ software and hardware systems, carried out by ‘ethical hackers’ to expose your system’s vulnerabilities. One example is a web application pen test. Web apps, browsers and plug-ins can house sensitive financial or personal data, so hackers are increasingly putting their efforts towards gaining access to them. The test would examine the endpoint of every web application.
What is mobile application penetration testing?
Mobile penetration testing is the technique of simulating an attack on a mobile application in order to verify its security. A tester will get the app files and perform a series of tests that the application is secure. Static analysis of the code is frequently included in these tests to guarantee that there are no security vulnerabilities. Testing of the back end hosting provider, such as Firebase, is also included, ensuring that hackers are unable to read or write to parts of the database that they should not be able to.
Do you test iOS and Android mobile applications?
Cyber Legion penetration testing is a smart, simple, and elegant solution for mobile app pen-testing. All a user needs to do is upload their Android or iOS app and the security experts at We run a mix of SAST, DAST, and manual security testing and validation. pentesting to analyze your app’s security posture.
Is the application reverse engineered?
We will reverse engineer the application where we can look for evidence regarding how the application has been developed and also for hardcoded sensitive information, such as API keys and credentials.
What is the OWASP mobile Framework?
Because mobile applications are not the same as web applications, evaluating them requires a completely new approach. OWASP-MASVS was created primarily to help penetration testers discover mobile application security vulnerabilities. This can comprise a variety of strategies aimed at protecting mobile apps against various forms of threats.
How long does a penetration testing take?
The time that penetration testing takes depends on the size and complexity of your organization’s system structure, as well as the scope of the test itself. For the ‘average’ company, a network penetration test should take around three days. For a merchant processing millions of credit cards a year, for example, a pen test will take over a week, or possibly two.
What are the benefits of Mobile Apps penetration testing?
Fixing these vulnerabilities will help you improve your information security defenses for not just your business but your staff, clients, customers, and partners.
- Identify weaknesses
- Prevent attacks
- Protect sensitive data
- Protect reputation
- Avoid fines and ransom costs
Any application that stores or collects users’ personal information is beholden to GDPR and as such are required to get a penetration test. GDPR mandates that you monitor the efficiency of your security controls on a regular basis and review applications and essential infrastructure for security vulnerabilities.
Because mobile applications are so common and frequently gather various types of user data, such as addresses and credit card numbers, it is critical that this data is not vulnerable to hackers and cannot be stolen in the event of a data breach. A mobile penetration test can help eliminate this risk and verify that the app is safe.
How much does a pen test cost?
The penetration testing cost depends on the facts identified during scoping, such as the agreed time, goals, technical resources, approach, and remedial support.
