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According to a report released by IHS Market, “By the year 2020 there will be more than 6 billion smartphone devices across the globe.”

Android has taken over the globe tremendously in the last few years. We are seeing huge growth potential in the hardware. Global consumer spending on mobile apps is deemed to increase. It has been estimated that by the year 2020, all the app stores in accumulation will generate a revenue of more than $100 billion on a global scale. This forecast will definitely come true in the coming years. We are not far from the future when people will go crazy over applications. All these things will encourage the trend for Android app development. This trend is only going to become bigger, thanks to an increase in the spending for enterprise Android app development services. But, app development is the beginning.

Before the application gets launched, there are lots of different challenges that need to be overcome. The app needs to be comprehensively tested for different types of parameters, including performance, functionality, compatibility, and most important security. This blog has been written to provide you with a fair glimpse of the different things that you need to take care of as an Android developer during the development process so that there are no security lapses once the app gets up and running.

In the forthcoming sections of this write-up, we have provided the best practices that you as an Android developer needs to follow for Android app security during the development process. We promise once you have read this content piece you will be in a much better position to take care of the security measures which will help in bridging the security gaps during the development process of Android apps.

But, before we divert our attention to the best practices it is time to look at what makes security such a critical factor during the Android app development process. Most of the time it has been observed that businesses tend to avoid testing the app before the launch. In fact, you will be surprised to know that approximately 50% of companies do not have a budget allocated for mobile app security. This is statistics released by a report from IBM. If you do not take the necessary precautions to secure the mobile app development for the customer it means that you are giving an open invitation to hackers. This way they can have easy access to customers, users, and corporate data. It becomes easier for them to jailbreak Android devices and reverse engineer apps to get access to confidential data.

Every enterprise today is concerned about the data breach. Due to a data breach, the company’s name gets highlighted for the wrong reasons. This can have an adverse effect on their brand identity resulting in a negative perception of the company. If a company loses out on confidential information it can drag them into a potential long-term legal battle with lawsuits.

Some of the top security threats that Android app developers need to watch out during the development process include:

Improper platform usage;
Insecure communication, authorization, and authentication;
Broken cryptography;
Poor client code quality;
Reverse engineering;
Extraneous functionality.
It has been estimated that approximately 90% of Android apps do not have adequate protection. On top of this, they are also vulnerable to a minimum of two risks given above. Due to the alarming rise in size and frequency of the data breaches, it is time for the businesses to concentrate on bridging the security gaps of their Android app during the development process. Now that you have understood the importance of security during the development phase of Android apps, as promised it is time to look at the best practices.

Ensure that the Native Code is Secure
It is important for you as an Android developer to keep the native code secure. One way to do that is by employing the Android SDK for mobile app development instead of Android NDK. If you are collaborating with other developers, it is extremely critical to ensure that they employ Android SDK.

The amazing thing is, when the native code is including the Android app development process, the app gets the data across the network. It can be in the form of a file or an IPC which can be exposed to security factors. The best resort is to keep the native code secure by employing Android SDK during the development process.

Increase the Authentication to the Highest Level
Time has come when most of the developers are now betting on multi-factor authentication. Reason? It ensures that the security of your sensitive information remains intact through a disconnected system and robust session management. It is time for you to prioritize the relevance of setting up of the advanced authentication mechanism by employing tools, including OAuth 2.0 or JSON web tokens.

This way there is an additional security layer which is provided to the Android apps. Due to the secure access gateway which is also integrated chances are, the corporate resources can only be accessed by authorized applications and compliant devices.

Securing the Code through Obfuscation
As a part of the Android application development process, it is important to protect the source code. This can be done by you simply through obfuscation i.e.; making it unintelligible for both humans and decompiler. While undergoing the process of compilation, it is important that the complete operation is preserved.

With the help of the right obfuscation process, it is possible to get a code that is impenetrable. It provides a high degree of confidentiality for sensitive data and also ensures that there is no way to reverse engineer. This way it enhances the security of the Android application.

Data Encryption
It is extremely vital for you as an Android developer to ensure that all the information that is stored in the device is highly secured. This includes the data that is transmitted between the back-end server and the application along with source code.

By not including certificate pinning, you can confirm the application’s back-end web services. By encrypting the data you are providing ample security to the Android application during the development process. This is one of the most critical information that can be stolen by potential hackers.

Keeping the Server Secured from the Hackers by Adding Firewalls
Nowadays, we are seeing hackers targeting servers. They target the API of the server. Hence, as an Android developer, it becomes imperative for you to ensure that your server and API is secure from these attacks from hackers. One way to counter this situation by adding a firewall for web applications. Alternatively, you can carry out code reviews to ensure that you have the necessary mechanism in hand to counter this challenge.

Secure your Transit Data
It is extremely critical for you to ensure that your transit data is protected all the time. This has to be done proactively by keeping your defense mechanism strong. A prime example of this is, it is imperative for you to ensure that there is an advanced mechanism to detect jailbreak. Also, the access control needs to be status-based.

On top of this, if the devices have been declared non-compliant there should not be anyone to get access to the corporate data. In case the device gets lost or stolen, the complete application consisting of the business data should get automatically deleted. This way you can ensure that the sensitive information does not get into wrong hands.

Include Anti-Tamper Mechanisms
During the Android application development process, it is extremely critical to include anti-tamper mechanisms. This includes anti-virus, activity logs, and signature verification. This way it will become possible for you to detect any vulnerable or infected libraries which have been added to the source code of the application.

Test and Update the Android App on a Regular Basis
It has been observed and clarified by a research report that Android devices are employing an old version of Android version by a minimum of two years. This means that three-quarters of the Android devices are vulnerable to attacks from hackers. They can easily exploit the weaknesses and vulnerability in the software.

It has been observed that whenever you, Android developers have tried to bridge the security gaps of your Android apps during the development process, the hackers are able to exploit some other weaknesses. It is not even possible for Google to minimize these threats. But, one counter-attack strategy that can work is to update your Android OS on a regular basis to ensure that you are not vulnerable to such attacks. You can also utilize penetration testing for server-side checks.

Store the Critical Data on Client Side
In case your device gets stolen or lost, the sensitive information is prone to threats. There are also chances that the device is not secure as it is prone to jailbreak by users to avail extra software and features. This way, the security feature gets lost. The best way to resolve this concern is by storing sensitive and critical data on the client side. This way there is a way to prevent permanent loss of data.

Parting Thoughts
There are times when businesses try to rush things which although meets their operation but fail to detect the security loopholes in the Android app during the development phase. But, by implementing the best practices mentioned in this write-up you can bridge the security gaps of your Android app during the development stage. If you wish to avail the state-of-the-art security features integrated into your Android application during the development stage avail the Android app development services from an experienced Android development company today!

Basic structure of optical fiberThe general structure of optical fibers includes three parts: Fiber core, Cladding, and Jacket.

Both the core and cladding are made of glass of different refractive indices. The innermost part is the core, and the second layer on the top of the core is the cladding of an optical fiber. They have different refractive indices, and the refractive index of the core is always greater than the index of the cladding. This index difference causes total internal reflection to occur at the index boundary along the length of the fiber. A light ray is injected into the fiber optic cable, total internal reflection takes place so that it can transmit down the fiber and does not escape through the sidewalls.

The jacket protects the fiber from damage and moisture. It is made up of flexible and abrasion resistant varieties of plastic to increase the flexibility of the fiber. As we knew, the core and cladding are made of glass and cannot be bent and fragile. Usually, the jacket has another layer beneath it called buffer. The buffer and the jacket together protect the cable from environmental hazards.

Some of the optical fiber also has an outer jacket for further protection. The color of this outer layer of fiber is standardized so you can tell what type of fiber you have.

Normally, there are two types of optical fiber: single mode and multi mode. Single-mode fiber is a single glass fiber strand used to transmit a single mode or ray of light. Single mode fiber with a relatively narrow diameter, through which all signals travel straight down the middle without bouncing off the edges. Single-mode fiber features only one transmission mode. But Multimode fiber can carry multiple light rays (modes) at the same time because of its bigger diameter.

Transmission characteristics of optical fiberFiber has two main transmission characteristics: Signal loss and fiber dispersion. Signal loss expresses the loss as the attenuation per dB of length, which is measured in decibels(dB). The loss of optical fiber directly affects the transmission distance of optical fiber communication system or the distance between relay stations. Fiber dispersion means that the signal transmitted by the fiber is carried by different frequencies and modes, which will lead to different transmission speeds, resulting in signal distortion.

Fiber dispersion includes Material dispersion, Waveguide dispersion and Modal dispersion. The material dispersion and waveguide dispersion are usually caused by different signal frequencies. And the modal dispersion is caused by the signal’s multimode. Signals that are not in a single mode can cause modal dispersion. Single-mode fiber is so small in diameter that rays of light can reflect internally through one layer only. So there is only material dispersion and waveguide dispersion, and there is no modal dispersion. However, multimode fibers have modal dispersion. The dispersion of the fiber not only affects the transmission capacity of the fiber, but also limits the relay distance of the fiber-optic communication system. Compared with multimode fiber, single-mode fiber has higher bandwidth and can carry signals for longer distances.

Single mode optical fiberSingle mode fiber optic cable has a small diametral core that allows only one mode of light to propagate. Single Mode Fiber with a relatively narrow diameter of 8.5 to 9.5μm, through which only one mode will propagate typically 1310 or 1550nm.

Multi mode optical fiberMulti mode fiber is an optical fiber that allows multiple guided modes to be transmitted. Multi-mode fiber has a larger diameter core, typically 50 or 62.5μm. This larger core allows multiple modes of light to propagate. The standard wavelengths of the multimode are 850 nm and 1300 nm. Multimode fiber is available in four classifications: OM1 (62.5/125 µm), OM2, OM3, OM4 (50/125 µm). There’s also a new multimode fiber standard known as WBMMF (wideband multimode fiber) which uses the wavelengths between 850nm and 953nm.

Both single mode fiber and multimode fiber have a cladding diameter of 125μm.

Single mode fiber or multi mode fiber?Signal transmission distanceSingle-mode fiber features a core diameter of nominally 9 µm, whereas makes the light reflection more compact, allowing only one mode of light to travel, thus making the optical signal travel farther. For single-mode transmission, modal dispersion is not a factor. So single mode fiber can get you 10km, 40km, and even farther without affecting the signal. It would be ideal for long distances that require more bandwidth such as telecommunications companies, cable television providers, and colleges and universities.

Multimode fiber has a large diameter core, which can transmit a variety of modes of light. In multimode, since the fiber core size is large, the signal “disperses” quickly, and the inter-modal dispersion is larger. Because the light travels different paths, the longer the cable is, the more distortion is caused by the different paths arriving at the receiving end at slightly different times. This is why single mode cable works better for longer distances. Multimode optical fiber is commonly used short distances, audio/video applications, and Local Area Networks (LANs). And OM3/OM4/OM5 multimode fibers can support high rate data transmission.

Bandwidth capacityBandwidth, which is defined as the information-carrying capacity. The main factors affecting the fiber transmission bandwidth are various dispersion, and the modal dispersion is the most important factor. The dispersion of the single mode fiber is small, so that the light can be transmitted over a long distance in a wide frequency band. As for the multi mode fiber, it can carry less in bandwidth and capacity than single mode fiber because of some complex problems such as interference and interference. The latest generation of multimode fiber bandwidth, OM5, is set at 28000MHz/km, while single mode fiber bandwidth is larger.

CostWhy would we use multimode fiber if single mode has higher bandwidth and can carry this information over longer distances? Cost is the key. Since the core diameter of the single mode fiber is too small, it is difficult to control the beam transmission, so a laser is required as the light source body. However, optical transceiver is very expensive, then the cost of using single-mode fibers is higher than the cost of multimode fiber optic cables. This fact drives most data centers to use multimode for cost savings.

Which mode of fiber to choose depends more on the application environment you need. HYC can provide various types of fiber patch cords.