As the friendliest digital security and privacy company on Earth, Quokka loves calling attention to businesses and app developers leading the way in proactive security and privacy stewardship.

Since last year, we’ve made it a point to put together a holiday “Nice List” showcasing mobile shopping apps that go the distance for consumers. By analyzing popular apps across five business categories, we’ve compiled a shortlist of the apps most deserving of consumer trust this holiday season. Other apps are also in the what is considered safe list, but we are showcasing the top 5.

The apps listed here appear to have the lowest Android threat scores in their category, and are deemed Quokka Secure.

The top 5 apps assessed were Society6, Madewell, Lucky Supermarket, Brad’s Deal and Stripe Dashboard. Other standout apps in their respective categories included:

1. Society 6
2. Etsy
3. Sell on Folksy
4. Poshmark
5. Zazzle

Note: Of the Boutique Mobile Apps scanned, the average threat score was 25 with the most common threat being apps asking for more permissions than they needed to perform their core functions.

1. Madewell
2. Victoria’s Secret
3. PacSun
4. American Eagle/Arie
5. Nordstrom

Note: Of the Big Brand Clothing Apps scanned, the average threat score was 31 with the most common threat being the lack of a runtime app security protection (RASP) solution.

1. Stripe Dashboard
2. Xoom Money Transfer
3. Remitly: Send Money & Transfer
4. Wise
5. Wallet Cards | Digital Wallet

Note: Of the Digital Wallet Mobile Apps scanned, the average threat score was 56, with most threats being low or medium risk to end users. The most common privacy finding is that the apps share information about the user or app behavior with social networks.

1. Lucky Supermarket
2. Whole Foods Market
3. Rite Aid
4. Toys “R” Us
5. Bed Bath & Beyond

Note: Of the Big Box Retailer Mobile Apps scanned, the average threat score was 32, with medium to low risk to end users. The most common privacy finding is tracking user behavior in their app with a third party tracking service.

1. Brad’s Deals
2. Zulily
3. DealNews
4. Capital One Shopping
5. Rakuten

Note: Of the Discount and Deal Giver Mobile Apps scanned, the average threat score was 34. The two most common privacy findings were tracking user behavior in the app with a third party tracking service and sharing user or app information with social networks.

All apps included on the list were vetted using Q-Vet, Quokka’s proprietary, industry-leading Mobile Application Security Technology (MAST) solution. By combining static and dynamic closed-loop analysis, we were able to assign a Threat Score factoring uncovered Security Risks and Privacy Risks.

Q-Vet is used by organizations worldwide to proactively identify security and privacy vulnerabilities in mobile device applications without violating end user privacy in the process. Q-Vet tests modern protected apps without needing to circumvent built-in app protections, increasing the accuracy of security and privacy insights and speeding up the app vetting process.

For businesses and app developers facilitating mobile commerce, it is critically important to understand where risk proliferates, both to strengthen security and privacy posture and protect end users.

Limiting the amount of permissions an app requires is a basic (yet fundamentally important) way to reduce points of exposure. Each new permission granted creates a potential point of vulnerability.

• Since many consumers reflexively grant permissions when prompted, it’s important to be proactive about including only the most essential integration requests.
• These types of vulnerabilities were especially common in the apps analyzed to create the 2022 Nice List.

To gain a clearer picture of the security and privacy posture of a given application, consider using Q-Vet to quickly, accurately, and non-invasively scan your business’ mobile application for security and privacy vulnerabilities. Once an app is scanned through Q-Vet and added to a user’s watchlist, each version of this application will be scanned, automatically, ensuring that each publicly-available upgrade continues to meet security and privacy requirements.

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