Mobile and IoT apps can be threats to security, mainly because user convenience is a greater priority and there is a lack of urgency to address the problem.
A new study reports that companies are “unprepared for risks created by vulnerabilities in internet of things applications.” The report, ” 2017 Study on Mobile and IoT Application Security, ” was conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by Arxan Technologies and IBM. It surveyed 593 IT and security practitioners involved in safeguarding mobile and IoT application security. Organizations participating in this study are users of mobile apps (44 percent) and IoT devices (48 percent) ; developers and manufacturers of mobile apps (27 percent) and IoT devices (21 percent) ; or both users and developers of mobile apps (29 percent) and IoT devices (31 percent) . “Respondents acknowledge the risk of security vulnerabilities in both mobile and IoT apps, ” said the report, “however, 84 percent of respondents are likely to say that IoT apps are harder to secure than mobile apps (69 percent) .” In addition, more than half of respondents said there is a lack of quality assurance and testing procedures for IoT apps. Highlights of the report follow.
