Introducing ThreatCast from Guardsquare: Mobile App Security Console for Dynamic Threat Monitoring

Today, Guardsquare is announcing ThreatCast, a new mobile app security console for real-time threat monitoring. With ThreatCast, organizations can detect and analyze threat events happening across iOS and Android apps protected by iXGuard and DexGuard. ThreatCast gives teams continuous insight into their apps’ security once they’re published and downloaded—areas which have historically been black boxes for organizations.

According to Verizon’s 2020 Mobile Security Index report, organizations across all verticals were twice as likely to experience a mobile compromise if they didn’t implement the proper security measures. More than half of organizations that experienced mobile breaches said the repercussions were lasting, with potential consequences including reputational damage, financial loss, customer data loss, intellectual property theft, and more.

What’s more, after an app is released and downloaded, security teams and developers often lack visibility into the most common attack vectors and vulnerable parts of their code. With ThreatCast, organizations can monitor threats in real time, adapt their security configurations and protect apps against suspicious activity and malicious users. The mobile app threat landscape rapidly evolves, but with ThreatCast on their side, teams can analyze and act on relevant data to protect their published applications.

Why Threat Monitoring Matters

To fully protect their mobile apps, development teams need to deploy a mix of static and dynamic security measures. Static code hardening techniques prevent attackers from reverse engineering applications to gain access to their source code,  while runtime application self-protection (RASP) monitors and reacts to attempts at analyzing applications and modifying their behavior at runtime. Guardsquare’s DexGuard for Android and iXGuard for iOS provide this layer of application security.

ThreatCast strengthens DexGuard and iXGuard security protections even further. With it, development teams and security professionals can gain deeper, real-time insights into threat events, allowing them to identify and act on potentially damaging attacks. ThreatCast lets teams:
 

• Identify real-world threats that could put the organization and its customers at risk, and build more effective strategies to respond to ever-emerging threats.

• Determine the most vulnerable parts of their applications and take action to reinforce security measures against common attack vectors.

• Detect suspicious activity and take appropriate countermeasures, such as suspending user accounts or restricting access.

• Use objective data to plan the implementation of additional application protection without impacting time-to-market, and optimize release cycles for security.

ThreatCast dashboard with overview of detected threats

How ThreatCast Works

ThreatCast works as a complement to DexGuard or iXGuard, and requires no configuration to set up. As soon as the protected applications are published, it starts displaying the collected threat data.

ThreatCast segments detected threats into three categories to quickly and easily assess an organization’s level of risk, filter detected threat events, and set priorities to ensure maximum app security. These categories are:

• Environment threats: determines when applications have been executed in a compromised environment

• App threats: identifies attempts to compromise the application package

• Code threats: flags attempts to modify the intended behavior of the application

For all of the detected threats in any of these three categories, ThreatCast provides in-depth information including:

• Type of attack

• Incidence rate

• Affected platform(s) and app version(s) 

• Device(s)

• Geolocation

To ensure a timely response to detected threats, teams can set up custom alerts and actions triggered by specific events.

ThreatCast Timeflow View shows detected threats over time

Pricing and Availability

Guardsquare believes real-time threat monitoring should be accessible to everyone. Starting today, all existing DexGuard and iXGuard customers have the opportunity to monitor one app for free* with ThreatCast. Power users can extend their coverage to more applications and access premium features.

*Valid for applications with up to 500K downloads