Use Case
Mobile App Security Testing
Prevent mobile application vulnerabilities before they reach your users.
Mobile development teams are under pressure to move fast—delivering new features, fixes, and updates on tight deadlines. But when security teams can’t keep up, vulnerabilities go undetected and the risk reaches: customers, auditors, and production environments.
Mobile Application Security Testing (MAST) is the process of analyzing mobile apps—during development and after release—to identify security vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and privacy risks. It’s a foundational part of modern mobile app security testing, especially as mobile apps handle sensitive data, integrate with backend systems, and interact directly with user devices.
Without visibility into how apps behave after release, even one missed vulnerability—like a hard coded API key, insecure data storage, or unvetted SDK—can violate compliance requirements, open attack vectors, and damage user trust.
That’s why leading organizations are embedding automated mobile app security testing into their development pipelines—to secure every build, without slowing down delivery.
Why Mobile Application Security Testing Matters
Mobile Apps Have a Unique and Expanding Attack Surface
Mobile applications aren’t just front ends anymore—they’re full scale software environments. They run on untrusted devices, store sensitive data and interact with dozens of backend services and APIs.
Every app deployed to a user device is an opportunity for:
- Reverse engineering
- Data extraction
- Session hijacking
- Unauthorized access to private APIs
- Misuse of third-party SDKs with unclear behavior
And yet, many mobile apps are released without ever being tested in their final form. Teams often rely on free tools, manual reviews, or scanners built for web apps—none of which are equipped to detect mobile-specific risks in the app binary, runtime behavior, or how the app interacts with the device.
Consequences of Inadequate Mobile App Security
Failure to properly secure mobile applications doesn’t just create technical debt. It introduces real-world consequences that affect users, businesses, and brand equity.
A mobile app breach can result in:
- Unauthorized access to sensitive data like credentials, financial info, or health records
- Financial losses for both end users and the business
- Regulatory fines tied to non-compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and other frameworks
- Loss of customer trust and permanent reputational damage
- Operational disruption, including emergency patching, rollbacks, and incident response escalation
When mobile apps go untested—or under-tested—the consequences often aren’t theoretical. They’re public, expensive, and preventable.
Common Mobile App Security Threats
Understanding the landscape of mobile threats is the first step in building a robust security testing program. Key threats include:
Hardcoded credentials and secrets exposed in the binary
Insecure data storage, including unencrypted files and logs on the device
Weak or broken TLS configurations, allowing for MITM attacks
Improper use of platform permissions and privacy-violating SDKs
Unprotected APIs exposing sensitive functionality or user data
Debug settings or test modes accidentally included in production builds
Inadequate session management leading to unauthorized access
Susceptibility to tampering, including app repackaging or hooking
Exposure to reverse engineering, revealing sensitive logic, API keys, or proprietary IP
Benefits of comprehensive mobile app security testing
Comprehensive mobile app security testing gives your team full visibility, control, and assurance—without slowing down development.
With comprehensive MAST, you get:
Full visibility into what you’re actually shipping
Analyze the final mobile binary—not just source code or build configs—to catch issues hidden during compilation and packaging.
Actionable findings for developers—not noise
Prioritized, contextual results help dev teams remediate quickly, without parsing generic scanner output.
Runtime behavior insights and SDK analysis
Understand how apps behave once deployed—including data storage, API usage, and third-party SDK behavior.
Built-in compliance alignment
Map findings directly to frameworks like OWASP MASVS, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and internal policies—with exportable reports.
Faster, safer release cycles
Test every build in CI/CD, reduce rework, and minimize last-minute security delays.
Lower security and operational costs
Reduce breach risk, avoid regulatory fines, minimize rework, and cut reliance on expensive manual testing or external consultants.
Key components of a mobile application security testing solution
Code Analysis (SAST)
Analyzes source code to detect vulnerabilities early in the development cycle. Foundational for identifying insecure logic, API misuse, and hardcoded secrets before they become embedded in release builds.Dynamic Testing (DAST)
Examines the app while it’s running to uncover issues that only surface during execution, such as flawed authentication, session management flaws, or runtime data leaks.Interactive Testing (IAST)
Interactive application security testing (IAST) is a hybrid security testing approach that works by embedding security agents inside the application runtime environment, allowing real-time analysis of code execution, API calls, and user interactions.
Forced-Path Execution
Forced path execution simulates key user flows and triggers code paths that are often skipped in normal testing—like those behind logins, feature flags, or admin settings. It uncovers hidden vulnerabilities that static scans and manual reviews usually miss.
Network Communication Testing
Analyzes how the app communicates with backend services to detect insecure data transmission. Identifies risks like plaintext traffic, weak or misconfigured TLS, exposed API endpoints, and susceptibility to man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks.
Data Storage Security
Evaluates how sensitive data is stored locally on the device. Ensures encryption is properly implemented and confirms that logs, caches, and local files aren’t exposing confidential information to unauthorized access.
Post-Deployment Monitoring Without SDKs or Agents
Allows ongoing assessment of live App Store builds without embedding code or relying on user devices. Maintains visibility post-release with zero user impact
Platform-Specific Security Testing
Addresses the unique security rules, risks, and behaviors of each platform (iOS and Android) to ensure nothing is missed. Delivers accurate results for both iOS and Android apps, no matter how they’re built or deployed.
Automated MAST from Quokka
Q-mast is Quokka’s automated mobile application security testing solution built for teams that need deep visibility, operational speed, and strong compliance across both in-house and third-party mobile apps.
Q-mast delivers in-depth security assessments to identify vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and compliance risks—without requiring source code. Security and development teams use Q-mast to catch issues early, reduce costs tied to late-stage rework, and minimize exposure to zero-day threats.
Key benefits include:
Comprehensive Coverage: Q-mast performs full-spectrum testing across the mobile software development lifecycle—from design to deployment—covering static, dynamic, and interactive analysis, even in obfuscated or binary-only builds.
Seamless DevSecOps Integration: Designed to fit into modern pipelines, Q-mast automates mobile app testing within CI/CD workflows like GitHub, GitLab, and Jenkins. Tests run in minutes, enabling continuous security without disrupting delivery.
Precise SBOM and Vulnerability Mapping: Generates a complete, version-specific software bill of materials (SBOM), including embedded libraries, to surface vulnerable components and dependencies with pinpoint accuracy.
Advanced Threat Detection: Identifies malicious behavior, app collusion risks, and runtime threats. Profiles SDKs and APIs for privacy violations, unauthorized data flows, or unsafe runtime behavior.
Binary-First Analysis: Q-mast tests the actual compiled mobile app, not just source code, and operates reliably across all current OS versions. It handles obfuscated code, third-party packages, and vendor builds without integration overhead.
Q-mast capabilities
- Comprehensive static (SAST), dynamic (DAST), interactive (IAST) and forced- path execution app analysis
- Automated scanning in minutes, no source code needed, even for latest OS versions
- Analysis of compiled app binary, regardless of in-app or run-time obfuscations
- Malicious behavior profiling, including app collusion
- Checks against privacy & security standards: NIAP, NIST, MASVS
- Precise SBOM generation and analysis for vulnerability reporting to specific library version, including embedded libraries
- Cloud-based platform to avoid drag on hardware or bandwidth
- Fewer false negatives with fewer false positives
Complementing MAST with Penetration Testing
Penetration testing (pen testing) simulates real-world cyberattacks to identify vulnerabilities in code, infrastructure, and logic that might go unnoticed during regular development and Q&A. It involves skilled security professionals actively trying to exploit weaknesses in the app’s code, infrastructure, and logic. While often performed just 1–3 times per year, pen testing remains a core requirement in compliance frameworks like PCI DSS, GDPR, and HIPAA, and helps reduce regulatory risk and legal exposure.
Mobile Application Security Testing (MAST) and penetration testing are not mutually exclusive—they’re complementary. Where MAST focuses on broad, continuous identification of vulnerabilities, pen testing delivers depth, validating which risks are truly exploitable.
How MAST and Pen Testing Work Together
MAST identifies potential vulnerabilities at scale
MAST techniques like static and dynamic analysis can efficiently uncover a wide range of potential vulnerabilities in the app’s codebase and runtime behavior. MAST provides a wide net, offering a comprehensive overview of the app’s security posture across multiple layers (i.e., code, application logic, runtime, network communications, and more).
Penetration testing validates exploitability and impact
Penetration testing takes the findings of MAST and attempts to exploit them in a controlled environment. This helps validate the actual risk posed by these vulnerabilities and prioritize remediation efforts based on their potential impact on security.
Together, they deliver complete, risk-driven security
MAST casts a wide net. Pen testing adds human expertise and controlled exploitation. Combined, they help teams focus resources on what matters most—closing real security gaps before attackers find them.
Benefits of Combining Penetration Testing and MAST
Combining MAST and pen testing is more than just a security best practice—it’s a strategic investment in risk mitigation, operational efficiency, and customer trust. This integrated approach not only strengthens your mobile app’s security posture, but also delivers tangible benefits that align with broader business goals.
- Early vulnerability detection: MAST can be integrated into the early stages of the SDLC, allowing for the early detection and remediation of vulnerabilities, which is more cost-effective than fixing them later. This allows you to spend less time identifying vulnerabilities and mitigating risks in third-party code, enabling you to meet go-to-market deadlines more quickly and with greater security.
- Comprehensive security coverage: The combined approach ensures that both known and unknown vulnerabilities are identified and addressed all layers of your app’s security. This dual-layered approach eliminates visibility gaps, providing thorough and reliable security assessments.
- Lower risk of successful attacks: Proactively identifying and remediating vulnerabilities reduces the likelihood of cyberattacks, data breaches, and compliance failures. This approach protects sensitive customer data, safeguards brand reputation, and minimizes the financial impact of security incidents.
- Stronger compliance posture: The combined approach supports adherence to industry security standards and compliance requirements. For example the FDA requires “medical device software” – including mobile apps – to undergo both penetration testing and automated vulnerability scanning to ensure patient safety and data protection.
- Enhanced operational efficiency: Automating vulnerability discovery through MAST reduces the burden on security teams, allowing them to focus on validated, high-priority issues identified through pen testing. This integration streamlines workflows, enabling faster resolution of critical risks and more efficient use of resources.
Get started with mobile app security testing
Whether you’re building a new app or managing a complex mobile portfolio, comprehensive security testing isn’t optional—it’s essential. Proactively identifying and fixing vulnerabilities helps you protect users, maintain trust, and meet regulatory demands before risks turn into incidents.
Q-mast gives you the automation, visibility, and control to secure every release—without slowing down development.
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