Too late to test? Here’s why security must start with development

In the development world, speed and time-to-market are often considered synonymous with efficiency, also in the area of mobile apps. Apps need to come out before the competition, be updated often, scale quickly. But in this race, application security is still too often put at the bottom of the list.

The result is paradoxical. Security is often promoted (even in the face of increasingly imperative European regulations), but security tests continue to be postponed until the end of development or, worse, after release.

Integrating security early in the software life cycle is a critical success factor for any team developing and maintaining mobile apps. An effective strategy today means identifying vulnerabilities as early as possible, when the costs of correction are still low, and the chance of damage limitation is highest.

Threats grow, time to react is reduced

In the mobile world as in the entire IT world, vulnerabilities are not the exception. Recent data and OWASP analyses show how the same risk categories recur with impressive frequency:

• Sensitive data stored unencrypted in the device’s memory;
• Communications unencrypted or with weakly managed certificates;
• Implementation errors in authentication and session management;
• Permissions granted to third-party libraries that collect or expose data.

Many of these vulnerabilities do not stem from technical incompetence, but from a lack of appropriate tools to support security in development. Teams, under pressure, choose the quickest route, often ignoring serious implications for the security of the whole app.

Meanwhile, attackers have also evolved. The most common techniques include:

• Reverse engineering to extract data;
• Traffic interception (man-in-the-middle attacks);
• Injection of malicious code via compromised libraries;
• Access to restricted content or functionality via unprotected APIs.

In this case, testing security after publication is already too late. Not only because the fix will be more expensive, but because in the meantime the app has potentially been exposed and with it user data and brand reputation.

Read also: Top 5 mobile application vulnerabilities

MAST and automated testing: how to bring safety into development

Mobile Application Security Testing (MAST) is a set of techniques and tools for analysing the security of mobile apps in both static (SAST), dynamic (DAST) and interactive (IAST) phases. In particular, Static Application Security Testing (SAST) is emerging as the ideal approach to integrate directly into the DevOps cycle, thanks to features such as:

• Analysis of the source code or the already compiled package;
• A complete scan can be obtained in a short time;
• It can be an automated action at every commit or merge;
• Provides detailed guidance on where to intervene, and why

This type of analysis does not replace the full penetration test. The pentest remains fundamental for discovering complex vulnerabilities or those linked to real-life contexts of use. Automated testing allows the early detection of known problems, drastically reducing the attack surface before it is even exposed.

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From theory to practice: DSA Fast and the Mobisec approach to security by design

Many tech teams share the principle of security by design, but struggle to find tools that fit the way they work. Too often, security is seen as an external element, an obstacle that slows down release and deployment.

With DSA Fast, Mobisec wanted to bridge precisely this gap.

DSA Fast is a static analysis platform designed for:

• Integrate directly into the development process, without requiring complex configurations;
• Offer rapid scans, ideal for every commit, branch or release;
• Highlight real vulnerabilities, reducing the burden on the team.

Designed for developers, POs and technical managers, DSA Fast allows you to:

• Make security part of the agile, frictionless flow;
• Receive real-time feedback on insecure code;
• Facilitating dialogue between developers and those responsible for security.

It is a concrete solution to operationalise the principles of MASWE (Mobile App Security Verification Standard), as we explored in our webinar: MASWE – The OWASP framework that changes the rules of App Security

And for those who want to know more:
DSA Fast data sheet
When and why to use automated analysis

It is not a question of if, but when (and how much it costs not to do it now)

Not testing app security during development is a choice that can have technical, economic and regulatory compliance consequences. And sooner or later, those consequences come.

The longer you postpone testing, the greater the risk you face:

• High rework costs;
• Releases blocked at the last moment;
• Reputational damage resulting from vulnerabilities discovered by users (or worse, attackers);
• Compromised regulatory compliance.

DSA Fast is the quickest way to start changing your approach.
It requires no disruption to the process, it does not impose high learning steps. It is a tool that accompanies teams where they are, offering immediate and useful results.

Want to see how it works?
Write to us and we will show you how to integrate DSA Fast into your development cycle, without friction and without surprises.
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