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Companies spend millions of dollars every year to secure their data and information. By 2022, 170.4 billion dollars is the projected spent on information security. Since cyberspace is extremely vulnerable to data thefts, manipulations, modifications, and malwares, its security has always been the biggest concern for cyber experts.
In the smartphone age, where everything from bank transactions to purchasing is done online, mobile application security has become a growing concern. Through an SSL and TLS certificate, one can secure his/her application from getting breached and modified.
Are you wondering why SSL and TLS certificates are essential for a mobile application? Well, here is why.
Why do we need an SSL/TLS certificate for a mobile application?
When you install a third-party application or even from the recommended OS store, they ask for permissions to make modifications in your system. Once allowed, they get access to your information. They can now see what you do with your phone and find loopholes to sneak into your bank details and confidential personal information.
Installing third-party apps can lead to information theft and bank fraud. It causes frustration among the users, and they tend to uninstall the application from their phones, resulting in your loss.
So, as an app owner, you must ensure that your application is safeguarded by Code Signing SSL and TLS certificates. Moreover, hackers can inject spyware, malware, and privacy threats in your application so, all the user data (that you have worked hard to gather) can be manipulated and utilized.
Here are some steps that can help users safeguard their information:
- Always download the application from trusted sources only.
- Do not allow unnecessary permission to any app.
- Always keep a mobile security app on your phone to stay protected.
Here are some steps that can help developers safeguard their app:
- Never launch an app without installing an SSL certificate on it.
- SSL/TLS certificates should be installed for all devices, including laptops, mobile phones, or tablets.
- Keep your versions and protocols updated.
Another way of securing your application is by pinning a Transport Layer Security certificate to your application.
Wording what is so different about it? Let's take a look.
What is TLS Pinning?
TLS pinning adds a layer of security for cybercriminals to breach. When a connection is made to a site, the TLS certificate checks whether the site's security certificate is authentic or not. It ensures that the site security certificate is issued by a trusted authority and is not expired. Through TLS pinning, you can boost your mobile application security.
Here are some benefits associated with TLS pinning:
- It makes hacking difficult for cybercriminals. If a cybercriminal wants to attack your application, he will try to decrypt your encrypted network. Since you have a TLS certificate installed on your application, he would have to pass an extra layer of security to decrypt, making work even harder for him. Moreover, the TLS certificate would deny access to the app if it finds an unknown source's access request.
- Protects your data and information. To boost your mobile application security, a TLS certificate encrypts the data across the entire network to keep cyber thieves at bay. It prevents cybercriminals from accessing the network data by developing an anti-eavesdropping communication channel across it. This channel helps in preventing third-party inspections making the app entirely safe for the users. On the other hand, if you do not have an SSL certificate installed, cybercriminals can manipulate data and steal essential user information. Cyber thieves can use that information to hack user bank accounts and confidential information.
- User device spyware does not impact the app. Users install apps from known and unknown sources, which gives free entry to malware and spyware. The cybercriminals utilize this opportunity to hack mobile devices and access applications. They transfer the traffic to app servers and modify the data. If your app has a TLS certificate installed, the authorization gets limited to the user and the app server. No third-party user can creep in and modify the transaction. It is most beneficial in bank applications where data is highly confidential. Thus, even if the user's device has spyware, the pinned app is not vulnerable to data theft.
- It can deal with a compromised CA. A CA pays testimony to the fact that the security certificate is verified and credible. It can get compromised by cyber thieves. They can tap into the CA and compromise the certificate credibility. But, none of it will affect you if your app has a TLS certificate. A TLS certificate has nothing to do with the CA because it communicates directly with the other app's TLS certificate. If it finds a mismatch in that process, the access will anyway get denied regardless of certificate verification.
- It can alert you when an eavesdropping attempt is made. If you have set up a TLS reporting infrastructure, it can help you detect when an eavesdropping attempt is made on your app. TLS reporting infrastructure sends a report that tells the developer when an attack was attempted on the app. The trends will show the location of the attacker and which application he is trying to attack. You can even use sensor networks to figure out the timing of the attack and its type. If you cannot create the TLS reporting infrastructure, you can contact your TLS certificate developer to provide that information.
SSL/TLS certificates have been in existence for the past two decades. But their significance has never been more prominent than now. A website that does not have a security certificate is viewed as an untrustworthy website by Google and the visitor. Google even limits the search rankings of the websites that are not secure by a security protocol.
SSL encrypts the data being transferred over a network between the web server and the browser and sends it over a secure connection where hackers cannot access it.
So, what benefits does an SSL or TLS certificate can provide to a website? What makes them such a significant thing in 2021? Well, let's find out.
Benefits of SSL/TLS certificates in 2021
- Keep your data secure. Data security is a big problem these days. Since people are running their entire businesses online, they cannot compromise on their data. Meanwhile, hackers also know that much sensitive data is present over the internet, which is why they are always on the lookout for hacking opportunities. But, if you have an SSL certificate installed, your data will get encrypted, and no one can access it.
- Helps you gain consumer trust. Put yourself in your customer's shoes and think, would you like to surf a site after being warned about its security issue? No, right? Similarly, a consumer will not trust your site if it is not secure. Moreover, with the changes made by Google Chrome browser, if your site does not have SSL/TLS certificates installed then, it will restrict your site rankings and the users to visit it. So, if you have an SSL certificate, your visitors will trust your information, products, and services.
- It helps you increase visibility. If your website is not visible, you are non-existential on the internet. One of the most significant factors to rank on top of Google's SERP is having an SSL certificate installed. Google's 2018 algorithm changes state that it only prioritizes websites with HTTPS security or an SSL certificate. Having an SSL certificate will not only help you rank on the top but also beat your competition. High-quality content does make a difference, but, before that, an SSL certificate is a must. No matter how good your content is, you will never rank high if you do not have an SSL installed.
- Cost-effective approach. An SSL certificate is the key to your digital shop shutter, and it does not cost you much to buy it. Authentic websites such as SSL2BUY, Namecheap, GoDaddy provides the cheap SSL certificates for different domains. Their certificates are unbreachable and credible. Moreover, it saves you much money by safeguarding your customer information and keeping you away from court cases due to data breaches and thefts. Through an SSL certificate, no data of your customers will be leaked, and you will save both your precious time and money.
Conclusion
If you have a running online business, having an SSL certificate is of tremendous value. Without it, both the confidential information of your customers and your app details are at risk.
Hackers can quickly put you under government surveillance by hacking your app and do unethical activities with it. Moreover, your customer's trust is also compromised in a big way because no customer would trust a website that does not emphasize its security. The best way to keep all these atrocities at bay is by getting SSL/TLS certificates. This way, you can not only maintain a sense of credibility, but the chances of you ranking at the top of Google's SERP also increases.
