Introducing a Market-Changing Approach to Mobile App Security

In today's fast-evolving digital landscape, mobile application protection is no longer “nice to have” - it’s a necessity. The increasing sophistication of cyber threats, coupled with the constantly evolving threat landscape and the widening cybersecurity skills gap, has made it more challenging than ever for developers and security professionals to secure their mobile applications. To address these challenges, Guardsquare is proud to announce the launch of our guided configuration approach. This product capability empowers development and security teams to achieve the highest level of protection for their mobile applications with ease, enabling developers of all skill levels to secure their applications efficiently and with complete confidence.

Consumers are driving the need to prioritize maximum mobile app security. Notably, 82.4% of consumers demand proactive fraud prevention rather than post-incident reimbursement. This highlights a crucial shift in consumer expectations. Rather than relying on post-breach remedies like free credit monitoring, consumers are increasingly looking for solutions to prevent breaches from happening in the first place. The frustration many experience after a data breach when they are offered reactive solutions like credit monitoring underscores a deeper issue: these measures do little to address the breach itself or its long-term consequences. Consumers are seeking more comprehensive security measures, which show a clear demand for stronger, proactive protection strategies. This shift reflects a growing awareness of cybersecurity risks and places significant pressure on businesses to prioritize prevention over damage control.

The evolving mobile app security landscape challenges developers to anticipate and mitigate mobile app threats, fraud, and malware. Given the limited pool of cybersecurity experts, this announcement is a crucial step in empowering every developer to become a secure developer with the capability of exceeding the market’s evolving security expectations.

Bridging the cybersecurity skills gap with a new standard in mobile application protection

The highest level of protection, uncompromised

Our products, DexGuard and iXGuard, apply protections with a compiler-based approach. This means that instead of an SDK that you integrate in your code manually or a wrapper that overrides the startup of your app to apply protections, we obfuscate the code with multiple layers of obfuscation and inject runtime checks throughout your application in diverse ways, making the security features an integral part of your app. This approach, which is polymorphic and unique with every build, results in the highest level of protection.

Compiler-based protections stand in stark contrast to the one-size-fits-all methods seen in the market, which often sacrifice security for ease of use. Compiler-based protection integrates security directly into the app's code during compilation, making it more robust and difficult to reverse-engineer than third-party wrappers, which can introduce a single point of failure.

With Guardsquare, there’s no need to compromise—our customers achieve the highest level of mobile app protection - now in the easiest possible way without compromising app performance, user experience, or time to market.

Discussing some of the key advantages of compiler-based protection:

• Multiple layers of protection: Our compiler-based method allows you to implement multiple layers of mobile app protection, forming a “defense in depth” strategy. Each layer is specifically tailored to address different security needs. This layered approach dramatically enhances security, providing comprehensive coverage against a wide array of potential threats.

• Polymorphic behavior: To take protection even further, we introduce polymorphism—a key element that adds a dynamic, unpredictable nature to each layer of security with every build. Each build of your application is uniquely protected, minimizing the risk of successful reverse engineering or code tampering.

By combining a compiler-based approach, multiple layers of protection for a defense in depth strategy, and polymorphic behavior, Guardsquare delivers the highest level of mobile app protection. This multifaceted strategy ensures that your mobile app is not only protected from a wide range of attacks but also remains adaptive, evolving its defenses with each new build to stay ahead of potential threats.

Seamless implementation

In the past, one of the most significant barriers to adopting robust mobile app security protection was the perceived complexity of integration and impact on user experience. We now provide a guided configuration that makes the implementation process as straightforward as possible:

• Guided quick start: The new workflow is designed with developers in mind, offering an intuitive, step-by-step process that guides them through the implementation of security features. This means that even those with limited cybersecurity knowledge can deploy the most advanced protections with confidence and quickly.
• Instrumenting & profiling for optimal results: Our products go beyond simple integration of a security library. We start by instrumenting your application, collecting metadata about your application (e.g. names of classes, methods, strings) along with context about the performance characteristics of your application. This metadata and the profile of your application ensures we can apply meaningful protections in a way that does not impact or compromise your app’s stability and performance. The instrumentation optimizes performance, avoids crashes, and allows for fine-grained control over defining the security-sensitive entities of your app that require the strongest protections. This ensures that the protection applied is not only comprehensive but also tailored to the unique needs of your application.
• Local processing for maximum control: Unlike other solutions that require you to upload your unprotected application to external servers, Guardsquare’s processing takes place entirely on your local development environment or CI system. This ensures you do not have to grant access to your source code, or upload a sensitive binary to use our technology.
• Automatic runtime application self-protection (RASP) Injection: Guardsquare's existing automatic RASP injection seamlessly adds security checks to your application without requiring manual coding from developers. This not only streamlines the development process but also enhances security by ensuring that these checks are obfuscated and strategically placed to avoid detection by attackers.

Actionable security insights for enhanced collaboration

In addition to providing top-tier protection, our new workflow also fosters collaboration across development and security teams. With our new guided configuration, teams can work together more effectively to secure their applications:

• Visibility into build & protection history: Our build and protection history feature offers a detailed overview of all protected builds. This visibility is crucial for ensuring that security measures are consistently applied and that any potential issues are addressed prior to release of your app.
• Integration of threat monitoring & mobile app security testing: This gives your teams access to additional valuable mobile app security services, enabling continuous oversight of your app’s security. You can identify potential threats in real-time while validating the effectiveness of the protections in place. By incorporating threat monitoring and mobile app security testing, you gain comprehensive visibility into your app’s security posture and can address any emerging threats, ensuring your app remains secure and resilient.

Leading the charge in mobile app protection: Begin now

Guardsquare’s new guided configuration approach represents a significant leap forward in mobile app protection. By combining the highest level of protection with unparalleled ease of use, we are empowering developers and security professionals alike to secure their applications against the most sophisticated threats.

As we continue to innovate and refine our products, our commitment to staying at the forefront of mobile app security remains unwavering. Our Security Research team is constantly monitoring emerging threats and evolving attack methodologies, ensuring that our customers always have access to the latest and most effective security measures.

The launch of this new guided configuration approach is not just about introducing a new product capability - it’s about setting a new standard for mobile app protection. We invite you to join us on this journey and experience the peace of mind that comes with knowing your mobile applications are protected by the most advanced and user-friendly product on the market. With Guardsquare, the future of mobile app protection is secure, seamless, and within reach for all.

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