As mobile applications are getting more complex with every passing day, the requirement for more and more secure applications is also consistently increasing. Smartphones have perfectly made their entry into every area of life and we have become a very important repository of sensitive personal information. It is no wonder at this particular point that mobile applications have become a very target for threat agents.
What do you mean by code tampering?
Code tampering is all about making changes in the source of the mobile application with malicious intent and eventually repackaging it to duplicate the original. All of these applications are later posted to third-party application stores with the intention that smartphone users unaware of the risk will be installing them. Threat agents in this particular case will be employing some of the significant attacks to trick the users into installing them into the devices and cyber security will become a significant issue between the processes in this case. As a mobile developer, it is always very important for people to focus on the implementation of the ANTI code tampering measures into the source code of the application so that things are very well sorted out without any problematic scenario at any point in time.
Why is code tampering a problem?
Code tampering will have very severe consequences for the application developers and the publishers because if effective risk management is not taken seriously, it will lead to the loss of intellectual property. Malicious versions operating under the illusion of the brand will be accessing this sensitive user data which later on will be exploited and committing to financial as well as identity fraud. So, it is very important for people to note that there are a number of scenarios of the effects of malicious versions of the applications that you need to pay attention to so that risk prevention will be very well sorted out without any problem in the whole process. Some of the most important tips that you need to pay attention to for protecting the application from code tampering have been explained as follows:
- Increasing the complexity of the coding with the help of techniques: Techniques like code obfuscation will make it very hard for the attackers to understand the logic of the application as well as the coding flow. So, it will be helpful in reducing the number of attacks that could be exploited. No doubt this is not at all foolproof but significantly will be helpful in increasing the time a threat agent will be required to mount the attack. So, usage of This particular strategy will be helpful in reducing the runtime manipulation very easily and further will be helpful in employing the trace check systems without any problem. Further dealing with the binary in this particular case becomes very easy and everybody will be able to have a good command over the things without any problem.
- Avoiding the simple logic: A simple logic testing system in the application will be brought to the attacks and further will enforce the privileges when the session is not at all trustworthy. Having a clear idea about the writing of the coding element in this particular case is important so that authentication will be sorted out and further, there will be no chance of any kind of problem
- Employment of the ANTI code tampering techniques: This will be helpful in providing people with the best level of support in terms of making sure that they will be protected from multiple issues and further will be much less susceptible to the concept of code tampering. There are a few numbers of techniques in this particular case you can go for applying for example cross verification of the regional signature, function collar verification, wiping out the user data, and dealing with a piece of sensitive information if it has been detected at any point in time. This will be helpful in making sure that the intended flow of the functional calls will be sorted out and there will be no chance of any kind of problem at any point in time.
Some of the common examples associated with the concept of code tampering have been explained as follows:
- Gaming applications: If you have free-to-play mobile games then you might have observed that a lot of such games have been designed in such a manner that you will be successful in them so that you will be proceeding with the in-application purchasing. Threat agents in this particular case will be taking advantage of the addictive nature of gaming and further will be exploiting this particular phenomenon. Later on, they will be using the reverse engine engineering in such a manner that the source code of the original game will be taken into account and the conditional gems will be later on by two deals with the verification of the in-application purchase successfully.
- Banking applications: This will be based upon the things that will be taking the entire situation very seriously so that typical processing of the sensitive data will be very well sorted out and there is no chance of any kind of problem. The attacker in this particular case will be creating the forwarding of the application that will be sending the personally identifiable information of the users for example username and password to the third-party website. As of now recently in 2022 the largest national bank of India which is the State Bank of India and its mobile application YONO were exploited by scammers to gain credentials which later on were used to wipe out the savings of the people.
Hence being very clear about the basics associated with the Anti code tampering is vital for modern data developers so that they can eradicate the risk very easily and entirely will be able to get things done in the right direction. The onus of developing security applications will not at all be dependent only on the developers but also will be very well dependent on the management of the entire software development life-cycle as well so that methods from conception will be kept safe and secure without any problem.
