Secure Mobile Software Development with Vulnerability Detectors in Static Code Analysis

Abstract

The security threats to mobile application are growing explosively. Mobile app flaws and security defects could open doors for hackers to easily attack mobile apps. Secure software development must be addressed earlier in the development lifecycle rather than fixing the security holes after attacking. Early eliminating against possible security vulnerability will help us increase the security of our software, and militate the consequence of damages of data loss caused by potential malicious attacking. However, many software developer professionals lack the necessary security knowledge and skills at the development stage and Secure Mobile Software Development (SMSD) is not yet well represented in current computing curriculum. In this paper we present a static security analysis approach with open source FindSecurityBugs plugin for Android Studio IDE. We categorized the common mobile vulnerability for developers based on OWASP mobile security recommendations and developed detectors to meet the SMSD needs in industry and education.