Technology has grown to occupy a central place in society and play a key part in all our lives. Of course, some technologies are more common in everyday life than others and have a significant impact on how we live. Mobile tech is a great example of this. Smartphones are something that we all rely on now. Whether it is making calls, catching up on emails or surfing the web, these devices are crucial to most people around the world.

The variety of things we do via mobile devices now means that the security features they contain are more crucial than ever. This includes examples such as facial recognition software, which ensures that only the right person can access a device, and mobile network security, which keeps hackers at bay.

This kind of security is essential for mobile devices, as they contain so much of our personal data, banking details, email messages and private photos. If these kinds of things were not available, people would not be as comfortable using them and they would not protect users in the best way.

The importance of secure coding practices for mobile apps

When it comes to making mobile phones safe for people to use, secure coding practices are also something that prove invaluable. This refers to mobile app developers using techniques when coding their applications that make them extra safe to use.

As apps are popular with all mobile phone users, producing those that are coded in an ultra-secure way makes sense. This not only makes it harder for online criminals to breach app security but also gives people full confidence that the apps they use are secure.

Cyber security specialists and secure coding practices for mobile

The seriousness of security for mobile devices is causing people to predict that the cyber security students of today will be at the forefront of the sector moving ahead. This is because these students learn not only what common online dangers pose most problems to mobile users, but also which security weaknesses hackers might target in an app or mobile phone.

They can then use this knowledge to design mobile devices that provide much stronger protection against hackers and apps that utilize the latest secure coding practices to deter online criminals. In terms of mobile apps in particular, techniques developed around secure coding within cyber security can be directly transferrable to creating safer applications. 

How do you become a cyber security specialist?

The above shows that training to become a specialist in cyber security could lead to decent employment opportunities in the mobile sector. As things such as secure coding practices become more important in mobile phone apps, people with specific skills in this area are in demand.

The online nature of modern society also means that people with in-depth knowledge of online security are in demand across a range of other industries. This can be businesses in any sector that have an online presence and need someone who can safeguard their network, protect their databases and help them work securely in the cloud.

Due to this, training to work in cyber security is a popular career choice.

If you are wondering how to become a cyber security specialist, the best place to start is getting the right qualifications. The Master of Science in Cybersecurity from St. Bonaventure University is a popular course in this field and perfect if you like the flexibility of online studies. This program teaches students all they need to know about helping businesses stay safe from online threats. This includes learning around secure coding practices, cloud security, machine learning and data mining.

What skills do you need to work in cyber security?

Cyber security is a field where academic qualifications are not the only driver of success. If you plan to move into this employment sector to build secure apps or make mobile phones such as the Apple 1Phone 14 Pro safer, you also need the right skills to call on.

The most important ones for specialists in this sector include:

• High-level IT/computer skills
• Problem-solving
• Communication
• Organizational skills
• Multi-tasking
• Leadership
• Programming
• Analytical skills
• People skills

 

Although the above list does not show every single skill that can help you succeed in cyber security, it gives a flavor of those that are used most regularly in roles across the industry. By working on these skills, you can not only succeed in your career post-graduation but also become more attractive to potential employers.

What type of person should move into cyber security as a career?

People who are interested in computers, technology and online/mobile tech are all ideal candidates for this sort of career. This sector can also be a good fit for anyone who loves to work independently at times and use their knowledge of IT to solve cyber security issues. This could involve building impenetrable digital fortresses to keep out hackers or enjoying the thrill of responding effectively to a sudden online threat.

Of course, if you already work in IT or other fields based in computer science, then you may also find working in cyber security interesting. It is key for all cyber security professionals to enjoy keeping up to date with the latest industry trends (such as secure coding practices) and emerging online dangers. This enables them to use this knowledge in their own role and fulfill their duties effectively.

What roles do specialists in cyber security typically move into?

 

Cyber security is actually a wide-ranging term. There is a great range of individual roles within the sector that people can move into. These include:

• Security architect
• Network engineer
• App developer
• Solutions architect
• Lead software security engineer
• Information security analyst
• Chief information security officer

 

When it comes to cyber security for mobile phones in particular, app developer is one specific role that stands out for graduates. If you like the thought of helping to design apps that are ultra-secure, then it could be the perfect job for you. Secure coding practices that cyber specialists develop are crucial to working in this position and creating robust apps.

But how do cyber security experts develop these types of coding practice?

Security testing

Although there are multiple ways that specialists in cyber security develop secure coding practices for mobile apps, a focus on security testing is one of the most important. This refers to mobile applications being thoroughly tested to ensure that they are safe to use and provide excellent security against hackers.

By doing this, the app developers are able to code products that have been properly tested for high-end user security and products they feel confident are secure to use on a global scale. Security testing also enables those involved with mobile app development to spot any glaring security errors in the product’s coding and across the application in general.

A good example of this would be performing periodic vulnerability scans on the app in order to identify code that might be vulnerable to attack. It is also possible to use automated source code analysis to spot any security flaws in an app’s coding.

Security patches to fix coding issues

It is crucial to point out that there may not have been any security issues with an app before it was rolled out. However, there are always new online threats emerging that see hackers finding fresh ways to get past previously secure app defenses. Once this happens, it is vital for app developers to work quickly to make security patches available to users and plug any vulnerabilities.

This is something that cyber experts have helped to popularize, and they continue to work with the mobile industry to help it respond to emerging threats from online criminals. It is common for these security patches for apps to rely on amendments to code and for extra layers of security to be added into the source code of an app to make it safer. It may also involve removing code that has been exposed by hackers or that has become a security weakness.

Authentication of certificates

Authentication is another valuable technique for secure coding and creating robust mobile apps. This refers to developers using specific software in their apps to validate the contents of an online certificate. These certificates are digital documents that confirm the true identity of a website or server. The certificate itself includes key data about who issues the document and which hostnames are connected to it.

By using software such as NSURLSession or HostnameVerifier, app developers can authenticate certificate contents from users and reduce the danger of certain attacks (such as so-called man-in-the-middle attacks). These sorts of attacks can be serious, as they amend the communication between the server and the app itself. This can then enable cybercriminals to access the app’s code and make changes to it or alter certain app features. By authenticating certificates, the app becomes safe for genuine mobile users to download and is kept safe from cybercriminals.

Biometric data storage

As we have already noted, biometrics is a major trend in mobile development and enables people to use unique personal data to access tablets, smartphone and apps. Good examples of this in action include facial recognition scanning on mobile devices and fingerprint scanning. Although this data may be unique, it still needs to be stored on mobile devices and apps for them to recognize who is trying to access them.

As with any kind of data storage for sensitive information, it is key for biometric data to be safely looked after for mobile users. Cyber specialists have been instrumental in developing techniques that enable this and allow biometric data to be used safely in the mobile sector.

A good example of this is how the technique of hashing was developed in the cyber security industry to help store this sort of information safely on apps and mobile devices. This involves turning biometric data into a string of code that is hard for unauthorized people to decipher. Hashing is also widely used in the mobile world to store unique personal data, as it stops this data from being matched with other sources online to authenticate it. Code obfuscation is another widely used technique in this area that was developed by cyber experts. This sees the code structure/syntax amended to make the data complex for hackers who do not know the rationale behind these changes.

Data encryption

Another useful secure coding practice for mobile apps developed by cyber experts is data encryption. This is useful for app developers, as it allows any sensitive data stored on an app to remain safe from hackers. This is because encrypting data takes the raw user information that an app might hold and jumbles it up via a high-end computer algorithm.

This encrypted data to be stored on the app is extra secure and almost impossible for anyone without the correct encryption protocol to decrypt. As you can imagine, this technique around app safety is much better than simply storing sensitive data without any kind of encryption to protect it. If this were to happen, any hacker who did breach an app’s security features would have access to a wealth of personal user information in its rawest form.

Avoiding hardcoding of things such as APIs in the source code of an app also means that hackers cannot steal key data if they manage to obtain the application source code. When combined with cryptography in app creation, this allows developers to create products that are able to resist common threats such as side-channel attacks. As a result of the above, the app’s code is kept much safer and the data on an app is kept more secure – even if online criminals were to breach the application’s initial security features.

Authorization

A key element of mobile app safety is that only authorized users should be able to access an application. This, of course, is also something that is key for mobile devices in general, where only the owner of a tablet or smartphone should have access to it. When you think of the wealth of sensitive data on our apps and phones, this makes perfect sense.

Good practice in terms of secure coding that cyber experts have developed is therefore key for app authorization. This sees apps created in such a way that people have to sign in first and confirm their identity before being able to access them. 

App authorization through secure coding on a more general scale is also interesting to note and something that cyber experts have helped to develop. This sees the code behind an app written in a way that only allows users to access certain parts of the app. As a result, it stops people getting to parts they shouldn’t have access to and unauthorized people from getting up to mischief (such as stealing data or changing the application’s code).

What’s next for cyber security within the mobile world?

There is no doubting how important online security is to the mobile sector and what a great job secure coding practices do at keeping mobile users safe. Due to this, it is almost certain that cyber security will continue to play an increasingly key role in the mobile phone industry. But how might this look as we move forward?

If we look at applications specifically, you expect that online security experts will continue to find new ways to secure the data that applications collect and store. This could involve higher levels of data encryption and new algorithms that help facilitate this.

For mobile devices in general, it would seem certain that cyber security specialists will continue to develop new techniques in areas such as secure coding to make them safer. This could involve the next generation of phones having ever more sophisticated biometric access protocols or the new wave of tablets running on network security processes that are almost impossible to breach.

Secure coding practices are key for mobile phones

People will only continue to use mobile phones if they feel that it is safe to do so and they are designed in a way that keeps online criminals at bay. One very effective method to achieve this is through the secure coding practices that cyber security specialists have developed for use with mobile devices. By developing and helping to implement these practices, cyber specialists are able to make mobile phones and apps a lot more secure to use.  

 

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Almost 4 days ago, LG announced that it will be shutting down its loss-making smartphone business everywhere in the world and would be focusing more on its growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, robotics, AI and B2B customized services and solutions. The company further added that it will continue to sell it's existing smartphones until the inventory lasts and will provide the software updates and security patches for existing series of smartphones for a limited amount of time that could vary according to region.

 

LG managed to hold third position on the sales charts in the US for a long time but this wasn't a situation anymore. This decision has also put an end to the future of LG V60 and LG Wing, which were the last high-end smartphones released by the company. But LG was also working on a rollable phone project and was believed to be code-named Rainbow. It seems obvious that these devices will no longer be a reality. LG stated "Not sure how authentic those images are but neither device will be developed any further."

 

Twitter tipster FrontTron (h/t: XDA-Developers) posted a picture purportedly from Korea's telecommunications regulatory body, showing the rollable phone in the shot. The tipster also posted an image apparently showing the LG Rainbow or V70 flagship, and we see a device that adopts the LG Velvet‘s design philosophy.

Unfortunately, we don't know much about the rollable device but that fact that the phone made its way to a regulatory body suggests that it was near to launching. This might be bad news to the consumers who have recently bought LG smartphones. Despite the fact that these are functional devices, they won't be getting any long-term software support. LG's rollable smartphone seemed promising at one end with a rainbow-style shimmer white rear panel and quad-rear camera system. Do you agree with the company's decision or do you think that the company should have tried a little more with a set of versatile and perhaps a few budget-friendly smartphones in the market? Let us know what you think.

 

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