August 3, 2021
In light of the ever-evolving mobile threat landscape, Guardsquare is announcing AppSweep, the mobile-first company’s new Android application security testing tool purpose-built for developers. AppSweep surfaces mobile security issues, enabling developers to address risks in their Android code and dependencies early in the development process.
What is Mobile Application Security Testing?
As companies continue to adopt a DevSecOps approach, where security is being integrated into the development process, mobile application security scanning tools are becoming critical. The right scanning tool can offer fast and accurate feedback that dramatically improves the security posture of a mobile app.
By shifting security left, development teams can also reduce the time associated with mitigating risks to deliver secure apps faster. That’s because developers can receive immediate recommendations rather than coming back to a section of code weeks later after pen testing has taken place and having to rebuild the context in their head to solve an issue. An added benefit of this approach is increasing the success rate of pen testing, which remains a key step in the release process.
Let’s take a closer look at how AppSweep fits seamlessly into the existing development workflow for automated security testing.
How AppSweep Works
Malicious actors are constantly looking for attack vectors to exploit, so mobile app security requires a comprehensive and multi-layered approach. AppSweep by Guardsquare is a free tool that puts mobile security at the forefront of app development, ensuring organizations are reducing their risk exposure to IP theft, data leaks, reputational damage, and other negative outcomes from a security incident.
AppSweep feels instantly familiar to developers. In fact, developers can review the security scan results in a way that is similar to how they would navigate their app in Android Studio or another IDE. This intuitive developer experience leverages Guardsquare’s open source ProGuard technology and insights from the Guardsquare Community to provide comprehensive mobile security coverage.
In addition, AppSweep is designed for continuous security assurance during mobile app development. Using the AppSweep Gradle plugin, developers can quickly integrate AppSweep into their existing development workflow or continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline. That means organizations can automate their mobile security efforts and remediate issues earlier in the development cycle.
The challenge with many security scanning tools is that they produce a lot of false positives, flagging issues that aren’t actual risks. AppSweep by Guardsquare recognizes the issue of false positives and strives to help developers focus on true positives. Using AppSweep, developers can follow actionable recommendations for remediating security issues without wasting time sorting through the noise.
Last, but not least, AppSweep is available to use as often as you want. We’re just at the beginning with AppSweep, so your collaboration is invaluable as the free tool evolves. Join us on this journey as we build the best security tool out there for mobile developers.
Get More Free Mobile Security Testing by Registering
While any user can submit their application package for analysis and receive an actionable list of security issues and recommended fixes, registered users get much more. The additional benefits include:
- Inviting team members to share reports and recommendations and to align on security priorities
- Organizing applications in different projects, comparing different builds, exploring trends, monitoring movements, and suppressing redundant issues
- Integrating security analysis into the CI process for automated scans with each build
Mobile app security scanning with AppSweep also aligns closely with Guardsquare’s existing mobile-first suite of tools that provide comprehensive protection for mobile applications. These solutions, from code hardening and encryption to runtime application self-protection (RASP) and real-time threat monitoring, create multiple layers of protection that reinforce each other and ensure apps that reach end-users are fully secure.
