How to Protect Your Mobile App from Being Exploited by Fraudsters
So, you’ve just
launched a mobile app or you’re planning on doing so in the near future, but
you’re concerned about the fact that you’re completely clueless about app
security? This is a common predicament faced by novice developers and app
inventors who simply don’t know what it takes to secure the interface and
functionality of their mobile app. Unfortunately, fraudsters can come up with
some very creative ways to exploit mobile apps to their advantages, stealing
not only money but also traffic, and potentially causing damage to brand
reputation to top it off. Luckily, you can follow these tips to protect your
app from being exploited by fraudsters:
1. Use an Identity Verification API
As you may know, you
can incorporate various APIs into your app to add new functionalities. One of
the most useful functions for protecting your app from identity thieves and
fraudsters is the identity
verification API
from Cognito, which makes it possible for your app to automatically determine
whether a user has provided truthful sign-up details. This is crucial not only
to prevent financial fraud but also to curb the amount of fake or duplicate
sign-ups the app receives, as those will decrease the accuracy of analytics by
inflating or decreasing certain metrics.
2. Collect User Feedback
Collecting in-app
feedback from
your users can help you discover instances of app abuse and fraud. You can also
let app users flag actions committed by other users, creating a sort of
open-sourced management of your app by its users. You may even want to
occasionally prompt users to take short surveys about their experience with the
app. By continuously interacting with your user base and making it easy for
them to report problems, you can uncover and prevent fraud much faster and with
less investigative effort.
3. Monitor Online Presence
It’s always wise to
see what other people are saying about your app online on external websites and
social media platforms. Monitoring your online reputation will help you find
complaints and shortcomings that weren’t reported within your app’s feedback
collection module. Some disgruntled users will skip straight to complaining
all over the web
instead of asking you to fix a problem, especially if they feel like they’ve
been defrauded by another app user.
4. Require Strong Passwords
Finally, another basic
but effective tip you can use to keep your users from having their account
hacked is to require the creation of strong passwords within the app’s sign up
process.
Consult with an App Security
Specialist
Once you’re actively
taking the precautions above, you can ensure you haven’t overlooked any
potential exploits or loopholes by obtaining hourly advice from an app security
consultant. You’d be surprised how many questions you can have answered and how
much useful, high-level information you’ll get just by sitting down with an
industry pro for a few hours. Plus, that way your app will receive a
professional stamp of approval that will put your mind of ease, instead of
having to place full trust in your own newly acquired cybersecurity skills.
Michael Conley is a 35-year-old digital security specialist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and one of the finest writers here at 
