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.

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