Firms urged to crack down on mobile app security

More than 75 per cent of mobile apps will fail basic security tests by 2015, says Gartner

Businesses have been urged to pay closer attention to the apps employees download on their work phones and tablets by Gartner, whose new research claims mobile devices suffer three times as many security attacks as desktops.

The analyst predicts that by the end of next year, more than 75 per cent of mobile apps will fail basic security tests, leaving enterprises exposed to a range of attacks.

It added that firms operating BYOD strategies are also vulnerable to breaches unless they thoroughly test applications users download on their devices.

"Today, more than 90 per cent of enterprises use third-party commercial applications for their mobile BYOD strategies, and this is where current major application security testing efforts should be applied," said Gartner research analyst Dionisio Zumerle.

"App stores are filled with applications that mostly prove their advertised usefulness [but] enterprises and individuals should not use them without paying attention to their security. They should download and use only those applications that have successfully passed security tests conducted by specialised application security testing vendors."

Gartner branded the majority of enterprises "inexperienced" in mobile app security and said cybercriminals are taking advantage of developers' lax attitude.

"Even when application security testing is undertaken, it is often done casually by developers who are mostly concerned with the functionality of applications, not their security."