How DDoS Attacks Happen on Mobile Apps and How to Deal with Them? by Juned Ghanchi

Rising DDoS attacks has already been a critical prediction about cybersecurity risks throughout the last year. As the digital space and a whole array of on-demand apps are pushing the growth of the sharing economy, the risk factor for such attacks and damage have increased to never-before proportion. This is why it is essential to understand the character of the DDoS attacks and how we can prevent them from causing damage.

Let's begin with a basic understanding of the DDoS attack.

What is a DDoS Attack? 

A DDoS attack refers to a Distributed Denial of Service attack. It is a kind of cybersecurity attack that can infect several mobile devices and computers with malware. Basically, the infectious malware behaves like a bot, and once the attack happens, it renders the server as unusable. For mobile app developers DDoS attacks are a particular subject of importance as vulnerability to such attacks can completely ruin their reputation. The vulnerability of the DDoS attacks not only spans across small business websites and apps but also the leading mobile apps such as Uber, LinkedIn Facebook and several others.

DDoS is basically a type of Denial-of-Service or DoS attack. DoS attacks are basically carried out to utilize and exhaust the computing capability of other machines to prevent usual and normal functioning.

DDoS is one type of DoS attack which is employed across multiple machines including mobile devices, computers and servers to distribute the denial of service attack and make several devices deny services simultaneously. The attack is carried out by an array of infected computers or bots that are controlled remotely by a commanding server. Such attack enjoys high anonymity as the IP addresses that can be tracked belong to the infected bot computers that are used as the resources.

Why DDoS are Attacks So Common? 

Among all the cybersecurity attacks, DDoS attacks on mobile apps are particularly common just because apps are often more vulnerable because of an array of security flaws. Moreover, for any malware attack profiling, mobile app users are no longer a very hard task. The ease of profiling user of an app makes it more vulnerable to DDoS attacks. These are the key factors behind an overwhelming increase in DDoS attacks.

How to Take Safeguard from DDoS Attacks on the Mobile Apps?

The old wisdom that insists on prevention as the ideal measure compared to the cure perfectly fits the case of DDoS attacks. But when prevention is not possible in all cases, you need to know about the key measures to safeguard the app from such attacks. Here are some of the key measures to address DDoS attacks on your mobile phone.

Only Go For Trustworthy Apps 

The most important preventive measure is to download apps only from reputed and trustworthy sites. Moreover, it is ideal to avoid all third-party websites for downloading apps. Some apps over a long period of time gain reputation in their niche and such apps are often the most trustworthy option.

Utilize a Mobile Security App

Another effective security measure will be using a trusted security app on your mobile phone. Such software can protect the device from harmful and dangerous malware. Fortunately, app marketplaces are loaded with an array of credible antivirus and security apps. Get the app with best reviews and make sure it is capable of scanning your files and documents on a regular basis.

Use Apps Built by Reputed Developers 

Malware can even attack your phone from downloads through Google Play Store. So, besides avoiding the third-party websites, you also need to opt for reputed developers and development companies for downloading any app. To play safe, it is advisable to avoid downloading apps that look like clones of other popular apps. Apart from this, drop all those useless apps that don't offer what they promise.

Ratings and Reviews are Important 

An app having a great rating and getting tons of positive reviews can hardly be an agent of malware attacks. This is why it is extremely important to evaluate the ratings and reviews of the apps. Through the ratings and reviews, you can always have a great idea about app performance and output. Moreover, search Google to find if there's any security concern mentioned by any of the users.

Stay Updated 

Do you know, an outdated operating system is highly vulnerable to security attacks and risks of all types. Since the updates are planned to make security elements better besides other aspects, you should not miss out on the latest updates. Besides updating the operating system, you should also give utmost importance to updating the apps.

Conclusion

You cannot stop DDoS attacks from taking place. At a pace, the mobile app universe is going forward, and not all security risks can be addressed in such a short span of time. So, DDoS attacks will keep pulling our security safeguards from time to time. Rather you should concentrate on mitigating the attacks and their persistent risks through the measures mentioned above on a continuous basis.

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About the Author:

Juned Ghanchi is a co-founder and CMO at IndianAppDevelopers Company, recognized as one of the most prominent team of app developers in India for iOS and Android platforms. He leads the app development strategy team and advises organizations ranging from startups to big brand companies.