Mobile applications are prime targets for cybercriminals, with mobile app security incidents rising steadily year over year. All signs point to mobile threats continuing to mount. To withstand this onslaught, proactive investment in mobile app security tools is no longer optional for companies building and maintaining apps.
The stakes for mobile security are high, with brand reputation, customer trust, data privacy, finances, and regulatory compliance all potentially compromised by a breach. Fortunately, a robust set of mobile app security tools exists to assist development teams. When weighed against the catastrophic consequences of an incident, purchasing mobile app security technologies is truly a worthwhile investment.
Here are key reasons every organization should invest in mobile app security tools as part of their overall security strategy:
- Prevent brand damage.
A brand’s reputation is a precious asset that is extremely difficult to repair once tarnished. Security incidents cast a black mark on brands, turning away customers and partners. High-profile mobile app breaches have sunk major companies as users delete apps and take their business elsewhere in the wake of a compromise.
Investing in tools prevents these catastrophes from ever occurring in the first place. The lack of negative public exposure protects the brand, instilling ongoing user and market confidence.
- Maintain customer trust.
Beyond brand integrity, individual customer relationships and loyalty are damaged when apps fail to keep data safe. Customers expect their sensitive information to remain private when entrusted with an application. Failing to meet these basic expectations by investing in protections leads customers to feel betrayed and reconsider their use of the application.
Conversely, securing apps through robust tools reassures users that their data is handled with care. This preserves valuable customer trust and adoption. Users stick with apps they trust.
- Safeguard sensitive data.
Modern mobile apps collect all kinds of sensitive user, business, and financial data from phones and wearables. This data is like blood for the app ecosystem, powering valuable insights and highly personalized experiences. But when it falls into the wrong hands, this sensitive data becomes toxic.
App security tools provide strong data protection controls, encryption, access management, and other capabilities to keep data safe even in the event of a breach. The data stays protected regardless of what adversaries may attempt to steal it.
- Minimize Financial Loss
Financial losses represent one of the most tangible consequences of mobile app breaches. Fraudulent purchases, stolen customer funds, and even ransomware attacks can siphon huge sums of money away from businesses. These direct costs don’t even account for potential regulatory fines and lawsuit settlements.
Investing in security shrinks the attack surface, adds fraud monitoring, and reduces the vector for financial system compromise. Proactively avoiding incidents prevents nine and even ten-figure financial losses further down the line.
- Meet compliance requirements.
Industry and government regulations impose strict security obligations and standards on the handling of sensitive data. Non-compliance results in heavy fines from regulators and potential civil liabilities. Keeping compliant requires constant work integrating the required data protections.
Rather than leave compliance until go-live, security tools build in capabilities like encryption and access controls from the start. Tools help map controls to precise regulatory obligations while providing audit trails demonstrating compliance to regulators. Tools simplify achieving and proving compliance.
- Compensation for Staffing Gaps
Many companies struggle to find security expertise, as demand for cybersecurity professionals drastically outpaces supply. Existing IT teams are already stretched thin just keeping systems running day-to-day. Bolting on mobile app security may be impossible without help.
By having tools to automate and simplify aspects of app security, less specialized expertise is required. Teams can close skill gaps by having tools shoulder some of the workload, implementing policies, and extending existing staff capabilities.
- Gain advanced capabilities.
Mobile app security encompasses many complex, constantly evolving specialty domains: crypto, vulnerability management, threat intelligence, and more. Keeping pace with the latest techniques in each area requires dedicated focus. Tools encapsulate innovations in these specialties, putting new capabilities at your fingertips.
Rather than manually cobbling together point capabilities, tools provide integrated platforms combining everything needed for end-to-end mobile app security. Capabilities impossible for most organizations to build internally become available.
- Focus on Core Competencies
While security is critical, most companies are not actually in the business of cybersecurity. Their core competency lies in creating software and online experiences for their market and customers. App security is important, but ancillary.
Security tools perfectly cover this ancillary protection need. Development teams are freed to focus on innovation in their domain rather than spreading thin into security. Tools handle security, so businesses can devote energy to what makes them uniquely competitive.
- Reduce project risk.
Whether rushing to meet a tight deadline or operating with constrained development resources, most mobile projects involve risky tradeoffs potentially impacting security. Teams often focus narrowly on simply getting apps to market as quickly as possible.
Security tools act as insurance, reducing these risks even on fast-moving and resource-strapped projects. Robust security capabilities are added without substantially slowing down development. The tools compensate for the risk potentially introduced by tight timelines and budgets.
- Gain end-to-end visibility
Mobile apps comprise client-side, server-side, network, API, and other components spanning complex infrastructure. Attempting to secure apps without visibility across environments leaves blind spots that attackers will exploit.
Mobile security tools provide end-to-end instrumentation, logging, and analytics from devices to backend systems. By correlating events across environments, threats missed by siloed defenses are uncovered. Complete visibility is essential to truly understanding and containing the risk landscape.
Investing in mobile app security tools is a strategic decision to protect what matters most: your brand, customers, data, finances, and future innovation. Given the dominance of mobile platforms, applying dedicated mobile security practices through purpose-built tools is no longer optional. The benefits far outweigh the costs. Leverage these specialized tools to implement robust defenses rivaling top software companies. Don’t leave mobile app security to chance.
Mobile apps underpin key business capabilities and relationships, necessitating adequate security measures. However, the expertise and resources traditionally required for app security far exceed what most companies can realistically muster. Security tools by companies like Appsealing fill this capability gap at a reasonable cost relative to the assets protected. Any way you cut it, investing in mobile app security tools pays dividends across the board.
