Addressing the mobile app trust gap
According to a new survey 80 percent of consumers would stop being a customer if there were a security breach in a company's mobile app. But app developers admit in the same study that many apps are not secure due to pressure to release them to market before they are ready.
These findings come from mobile security and analytics company Bluebox Security which talked to over 400 consumers and approximately 300 developers.
The results reveal that 69 percent of consumers are somewhat to very confident that the apps they use are safe from hackers. However, this confidence is misplaced as the developers of those apps confess they are not secure. In fact, 74 percent of developers believe most mobile apps are moderately vulnerable and 24 percent say they are highly vulnerable.
Almost half of all developers admit that they have rushed an app to market, despite it not being completely ready. Also 53 percent of developers admit that they have taken shortcuts or put temporary solutions in place in order to get their app out on time. Developers are using unsecured third party frameworks too, 96 percent say they use third party frameworks that may or may not be safe to build their apps. Only 32 percent said that they would prefer to develop their own code.
To address these issues Bluebox is launching a new solution for enterprises to secure their consumer-facing apps and fight back against mobile threats that are placing consumers and businesses at risk. Bluebox for Consumer Apps allows enterprises to turn their consumer mobile apps -- those available on the Apple App and Google Play stores -- into self-defending apps that secure, detect and respond to mobile threats, and provide mobile threat intelligence data with a single click.
"Companies have underinvested in mobile security in a rush to become mobile first, and now the bill is due. With mobile threats being discovered almost daily, and enterprises losing control over consumer devices, it's only a matter of time before a mobile hack is the root of the next major breach," says Pam Kostka, CEO of Bluebox. "Our goal is to enable businesses to have confidence in the security posture of the apps that they build and distribute. Our security and threat analytics are easily embedded with the click of a button, transforming any app into a self-protecting island that can intelligently defend itself in real-time when it is in a hostile environment or actively under attack".
The complete survey findings are available on the Bluebox site and Bluebox for Mobile Apps will be available in December, you'll find more information on the company's consumer page.
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