8 Best Practices For Mobile Devices Penetration Checking

Mobile Penetration Testing is one of the simplest methods of checking security vulnerabilities thoroughly. The whole range of IT technology, including network, web apps, and database protection, can be used for Pentesting. 

Mobile application penetration testing is a critical component in any comprehensive security plan. These are the basic principles for mobile application penetration testing.

Best Practices for Mobile Devices Penetration Checking

Below are the best practices for mobile testing penetration testing:

1. Preparing the Security Mobile Penetration Testing Plan

Quality improvement is one of the problems of mobile pen research applications. The OWASP iOS Cheatsheet gives an outline of our hack test plan’s attack vectors. The methodology used by other platforms can, however, be used.

This one was specifically designed for iOS devices. There are unique areas for each main attack surface for the assessment. Consider a suitable technique for each main attack:

• Application mapping ⇒ Information gathering
• Client attacks ⇒ Runtime, binary, and file system analysis
• Network and server attack ⇒ Network analysis and insecure data storage.

2. Preparation of the Test Environment

Web applications work on all sorts of devices and browsers, but mobile apps do not. A particular test environment powered by a system must also be designed. For example, if an iOS device does not allow us to observe, evaluate, or react to an attack. 

It is required to jail the device, given Apple’s protection imposed by Apple? With evasi0n7 jailbreak, the system can be booted, and the OS can be accessed root/admin. For Android, rooting a computer can provide that access by installing One Click Root.

3. Build an Arsenal of Attack

After the system is ready, some additional tools may be needed to analyze and gather information. These should be used in the hack test set and the unit. Cydia is the jailbroken iOS app store, where the required mobile dev hacker resources can be downloaded. 

Debuggers and decrypters will help us in comprehending the application mechanics. It is highly recommended for binary research to use Android Apktool or a more powerful virtual Android Reverse Engineering system. The use of tools like AppCrack or DumpDecrypted when the application is encrypted is needed.

4. Preparing the Test Cases: Application Mapping

It is necessary to observe and evaluate the application at a functional level, including decrypting if the application has been obstructed. Extraction of what kind of frameworks have been used, taking notes on the following, will help create a proper threat modeling, applying the same principles for creating a test suite as explained in the OWASP testing guide:

• Identity and access control => Key chains, brute-force attacks, tempering parameter
• Input validation and encoding => Malicious input, fuzzing
• Encryption => SQLite database password fields, configuration file encryption
• User and session management => Session IDs, time lockouts
• Error and exception handling
• Auditing and logging => Logs, access control to logs.

5. Binary and File Review Client Attack

In this step, the main goal is to detect unsafe API calls and files with dangerous access controls. You can use the IDA Pro or the Hopper App to debug and evaluate our code. Please do not discard overflows from buffers. 

We may use techniques such as fluttering the app or adding malicious inputs to detect bugs such as SQL injections. Methods to expose bugs in a native application are close to those used by Web test applications with this difference: debugging software is used instead of using a proxy to understand the app’s internal purpose.

6. Install Traffic Attacks, Run Traffic Network Attacks

With the simple client-server architecture of the mobile dev hacker, network attacks are one of the key concerns. It is necessary to use sniffers to catch network traffic and analyze the security of transport layers. Attack proxies like ZAP could help. During this process, additional tests should be included:

1. Authentication:  By monitoring customer-server requests and answers, we can identify authentication vulnerabilities. It poses a danger if the app uses simple HTTP authentication. When used, SSL should always be used.

• Authorization:  Roles and controls of access between them can be detected by the manipulation of parameters. Coders may use application hacks review (native apps) or application spiders to protect an API key in an incorrect folder properly (web-based apps).
• Control of meetings:  GET methods are used to display session ID tokens placed in the URL, seen when proxying or sniffing the application.
• Poor protocols and encryption:   In these regions, mobile apps become more vulnerable. The device must categorize wireless vulnerabilities that revolve around encryption protocol.

7. Staging Server Attacks

In particular, infrastructure testing- the mobile web app server – includes tools such as Nmap and a similar pen test armor designed to map and identify vulnerabilities and risks to exploitation. 

Also, the tests should consist of unlimited file upload, open redirect, and cross-origin resource sharing. Hybrid and web-based mobile applications should be checked to circumvent authentication between the fine customer and the server. Security of the web services may lead to vulnerabilities like XML or XPath Injections, for example. 

The server-side attack occurred in 2013, where Apple ID iCloud accounts can be easily hijacked by re-establishing the password, which only includes the account owner’s e-mail and date of birth. The key cause of this security weakness is poor authorization controls.

8. Learn More About Mobile Faults

Practice makes it better, the approach makes it perfect. One of the available tools for testers to learn more about how vulnerabilities to protection in mobile apps occur in this regard are vulnerable mobile applications. There are some interesting helpless dummies:

1. Damn Vulnerable iOS Application (DVIA) (DVIA)
2. Mobic
3. Andrick Project Page

The Damn Insecure iOS App contains full documentation, including some instruction articles and several other comprehensive examples, which create a test environment, runtime analysis, and network traffic.

A False Sense of Mobile Security is Pervasive

There is a false sense of security among mobile users. Mobile apps are affected by bugs close or equivalent to web-based applications. There are real challenges in ensuring that adequate security checks are understood to build applications in security. The apps are tested in reverse engineering, decryption, and file analysis, which require skills not easy to find.

To create safer apps, mobile developers should also be aware of those techniques. Interesting documents and other tools are available to raise awareness about the dangers of insecure mobile applications. Mobile application penetration testing will also help us appreciate the related safety risks. 

Do not simply press and update in the meantime. Instead, practice due diligence by knowing who has created an application hacks and how the security checks and the correct two-factor authentication details can be given.

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