We live in an automated world where every single piece of information, doesn’t matter if it’s old or new, can be made available with just a few clicks. The internet, which was originally developed to support and organize the USA’s defense system, has a much wider meaning and usage today. However, the web has also provided a safe space for hackers to do illegal or malicious activities for monetary benefits and other kinds of personal gains. Code Obfuscation is among the most popular techniques used by various businesses and companies to protect their applications from malicious hands. To understand the concept, benefits, and importance of code obfuscation clearly, you will have to go through the basics of application development and hacking.
What is Application Development?
Application development, in simple terms, refers to the step-by-step process of creating, designing, checking, and deploying computer programs or codes to provide online services. The first step towards building an online application is identifying problems or finding loopholes in the existing codes. If you think your work is done after deploying a code, you’re wrong. Despite going through multiple checks, there’s always a slight possibility that your code or application might not work well on the user’s devices. Therefore, companies are always on their toes to find errors and loopholes in their system to provide the best possible services to their existing users and also acquire more customers.
Application development doesn’t end in creating a series of codes. Companies also have to build a user interface and constantly check the reliability of the code through multiple stages of testing. Once the code has passed all of its quality testing stages, it is up for deployment, which makes the software available to the users.
What is Code Obfuscation? Why is it required?
Now that we are familiar with the basics of application development, let’s learn more about hacking and the role of code obfuscation in preventing application hacking. Here you can know about the QR code generator.
A web application consists of a series of codes or programs that are necessary to perform a specific task on a web browser. Companies go through multiple rounds of development, rendering, and checking before deploying any code or program to their users. Once these codes are deployed, and the software is made accessible to the users, the chances of your code getting hacked or manipulated increase.
Hacker, in simple terms, refers to a person that gains access and manipulates a code for their advantage illegally, i.e., without a formal or direct method. These hackers use their coding knowledge to get access to computer systems and browsers for money and other personal gains. A normal person with little-to-no knowledge about web application development and programming language cannot hack or manipulate data for their advantage and hire such hackers to achieve the same.
Let’s understand the concept of application hacking with a simple example. Suppose you’ve built an online application that allows users to listen to music online. Since the users were able to listen to all the songs, podcasts, and playlists with minimum ads and without paying any money, your application got plenty of visibility and became one of the top five streaming platforms. Now that the application has gotten such massive visibility, you plan on including a special premium feature that lets the user enjoy their favorite tracks, podcasts, and playlists without any advertisements by charging a small fee. A regular person with no knowledge of programming languages has two options. The first option includes enjoying the platform as before and not spending money to get the special premium feature, and the second option includes getting the premium feature by paying a small fee. For a person with adequate knowledge of programming language, however, there’s a third option, which involves accessing the code and manipulating the data to unlock the premium feature without paying any money. Since the code was originally developed by a coder or software engineer and has been manipulated by a hacker, the process is termed reverse engineering. This illegal or unauthorized access to the codes might seem insignificant at first, but the company can face hefty losses over an extended period.
This is where code obfuscation comes into the picture, as it helps multiple companies and organizations to keep their data safe and secure from illegal or direct access. Obfuscation, in simple terms, means to keep things in the dark or hidden. Code Obfuscation is a technique used by leading tech companies to protect their applications from unauthorized access by making their codes difficult to interpret and comprehend. Since it takes more time and effort to interpret the code, the chances of code manipulation also reduce, which prevents future losses for a company.
You can choose the level of obfuscation for your code. An obfuscated code doesn’t interfere with the overall running and execution of the code, i.e., your code will run as before. The only purpose of obfuscating a code is to make it harder to read and comprehend for a third party by using shorter or unrelated terms for variables, which makes unauthorized access difficult.
While there are legal ways to deal with such security threats for your applications, it often takes a lot of time, effort, and finances to hear a decision in your favor. Code Obfuscation is a much cheaper and more reliable alternative to ensure your codes are safe from malicious hands. There are three major benefits of obfuscating your code. To start with, it prevents the possibility of future financial losses by preventing unauthorized access. Secondly, frequent hacking of an application is often accounted for the company’s incompetency and desire for providing privacy to its users. Thirdly, code obfuscation can help build and maintain your brand image by limiting security threats to your applications and software.
So, if you’re looking for a reliable, experienced, and affordable platform to help secure your mobile applications from unauthorized access, Appsealing is a one-stop destination for all your security threats. We have already offered app security services to over a billion active devices till now and provided security to over 800 mobile applications.
