Secure Integration with Mobile SDKs
In our mobile-dominant world, it is crucial for developers to build applications that are mobile-friendly and secure. Software Development Kits (SDKs) are leveraged for this purpose. Essentially, an SDK is a pre-built tool that serves a specific purpose and can be integrated with your app. While integrating your apps with a mobile SDK is convenient, it increases the risk of security gaps that will leave your app vulnerable to attacks. Mobile apps often contain sensitive information, such as Personal Identifiable Information (PII). Unfortunately, many businesses overlook the security risks associated with integrating with SDKs. Since SDK’s are the lifeforce behind your app, your security must be steadfast. Any attack has the possibility of crashing all apps that are using the SDK or stealing invaluable user information, which can spell disaster for businesses.
At Incode, we take these risks very seriously and use the most modern security measures to ensure SDK integration security. One way we protect our clients and apps is by assuring we never expose any API keys on the user’s device. This is to prevent hackers from using the key to attack the system. API keys should be secured on the backend and use the key to receive an access token from the service provider. Some examples of types include JWT and Oauth 2.0 tokens. These tokens a kind of “key” that gives certain access to a system for a set amount of time. The SDK then uses the token to communicate with the service provider’s backend. Read our documentation here to learn more.
User data is something we work with and Incode does everything it can to protect this data. When you use our mobile SDKs, we encrypt all our user data both in transit and at rest in our servers. For example, if data is sent from the user’s device to Incode’s cloud or from the customer’s cloud to Incode’s cloud, the data is encrypted. Additionally, when your data is not being actively used (at rest), it is also encrypted, and it’s protected from anyone who tries to access or steal this data. Data is encrypted using AES-256 or other strong algorithms. Generally, data is less vulnerable at rest than in transit, but hackers tend to find data at rest more valuable than data in transit because it contains more sensitive information. This makes encryption both at rest and in transit critical, as well as making sure no personal identifiable information (PII) is stored in logs. These practices should be non-negotiable whenever using mobile SDKs. Our clients and users can always be assured that their data is as secured as possible.
Incode also uses penetration testers to continuously test our robust security methods. For example, we have penetration testers test our servers on a continual basis. This ensures that nobody can gain unauthorized access to any data in our system. We also have penetration testers test our SDK on an ongoing basis. This prevents the worst-case scenario, where a hacker can execute arbitrary code or steal a user’s data. When a hacker executes arbitrary code, they can run any command on the system. Therefore, it is so vital to our security to constantly test servers and SDKs.
SDKs are widely used, and for good reason. They save a good deal of money by not developing certain functionalities in house and instead outsource it to a 3rd party. But it is very important to realize the risks associated with SDKs and the measures we can put in place to mitigate these risks. Incode is always ensuring that the data we handle is secured using industry best practices. Our clients and users can always feel at ease that their information is safe and protected whenever using our mobile SDKs.