How can you secure your mobile backend and cloud services?

Securing your mobile devices and the backend and cloud services is necessary for protecting your data and ensuring the privacy of your users. Protection data in transit is an must have

At HMD we have two solutions for this. Our mobile devices come with HMD Softlock which consists in two parts: the embedded app in the firmware plus the platform to control it, consisting on a front-end (web-based console) and the back-end (cloud-based servers in Europe). Your devices can be locked in case of lost or robbery. Also some of our fintech customers use it to lock devices that were sold in installments, if users fall behind payments. The other solution is our EMM called HMD Enable Pro, packed with come Security features, some of them inherited from Android Enterprise. If you want to learn more, you can write me at [email protected]

Securing mobile backend and cloud services is essential to protect sensitive data, maintain the privacy of your users, and ensure the integrity and availability of your services. It has various security aspects like: - Authentication and Authorization: - Data Encryption: - Server-Side Security: - Data Protection - Compliance - Backup & Recovery

Securing your mobile backend and cloud services is crucial for protecting your data and ensuring the privacy of your users.

When selecting a provider, it's essential to perform a thorough assessment of your specific security requirements, compliance needs, and budget constraints. Additionally, consider factors like the provider's reputation, responsiveness to security incidents, and their history of compliance with relevant data privacy regulations.

Think of data in terms of currency: you wouldn't store your currency out in the open, you'd store it in a lockbox. On the flip side, if you're transporting your currency, you would do it in an armored truck with heavily armed security guards. Securing data-at-rest & in-transit works the same way. Many orgs, due to budget constraints, opt for encryption of data-at-rest or data-in-transit only. While having at least one layer of encryption is better than none, both layers are crucial in protecting company/customer data as this reduces the overall attack surface and mitigates the risk of security breaches & data loss at multiple layers.

Encryption in transport is a given. Zero trust model suggests treating all networks as unsecure, even internal networks, and I tend to agree. Using HTTPS even internally, while adding complexity, is usually best practice. As far as encryption at rest, this is also a given, and is especially critical on any pieces of infrastructure that are internet facing.

I agree that cloud security tools and application makes it more secure and easier. Here are some tools, -DevSecOps Solutions by Fidelis -Security Service Edge by Skyhigh -CNAP Platform by Lacework -Cloud Workload Protection by Palo Alto -Qualys for Compliance

Everything this section describes, along with setting up modern auth/MFA is very relevant. There has to be a balance however between security, and usability. The flip side to all this, and something to keep in mind, if we make security and authentication too difficult on the users they are going to look to subvert it.

Data backup goes without saying. What needs to be (re)iterated here is validating the backups. Schedule regular backup restore testing and validations. Perform pre & post restore reporting activities to ensure the backup is valid & usable. Try running the same reports on the restored data to ensure it aligns with your baseline reports.

Indeed, it is an important point to perform backups of the services that integrate the applications, as well as perform restore tests to ensure and validate the protected data. It is important to perform backups with different frequencies with respect to the environment (production, development, testing, etc.) . In addition to backup, it is important to enable high availability of services in different regions or zones.

To effectively monitor your mobile activities, consider using various tools and methods, such as log analysis, real-time alerts, customizable dashboards, and data analytics. The key is to tailor your monitoring approach to suit your specific needs and the scale of your operations, ensuring that you can promptly address any issues or vulnerabilities that may arise.

Monitoring applications and/or services is vital for the organization, configuring alerts appropriately for each service and also designing and preparing graphic or table reports on resources and/or services; Additionally, automating the resolution of alerts is important for companies, reducing manual activities or actions per operations user, for example, a serious tool is Azure Sentinel from Microsoft, among other tools that help us automate repetitive tasks.

Logging & auditing (both of access & logs) should never be overlooked. I can't emphasize enough the value of security derived from implementing deep-level logging & log-auditing. This truly enables orgs to have the extensive visibility into the "6 W's" of a successful audit trail (Who accessed What, Where, When, hoW, & Why). Coincidentally enough, these are also the typical questions asked during regular quarterly/yearly audits of systems by governing bodies and being able to effortlessly pull up the Log/Audit console highlighting the details of various events is invaluable.

I would add to this article that securing mobile devices with an MDM solution, or MAM solution is super prudent. Additionally, there are many solutions to mobile security but Lookout has first part integrations with several cloud providers so it would be my recommendation and pick in this area.