Fine grained, multi-layered access rights are mandatory for mobile applications and, while the cost and time required to create and maintain this type of security may seem prohibitive, the cost of litigating a legal action to defend against privacy or confidential data violations, or to suffer the consequences of damage to your business reputation.
Designers and developers must develop a thorough plan and ensure detailed testing of mobile business applications before they are launched. An appropriate plan might combine validation of location, password encryption, and verification of user device(s), and in some cases where personal or business information is highly sensitive, the design team may even include bio-identity features and require a fingerprint or iris scan prior to granting user access.
To ensure appropriate access to date, user authentication must be integrated with enterprise security provider systems like LDAP or AD. Mobile application designers must also have a full understanding of industry and government standards compliance and regulations, e.g., HIPPA or eGMS, eGIF, and other compliance requirements like PCI, etc. A comprehensive security plan and design must ensure against data leakage, inappropriate system access and other rogue behavior.
If a business is contemplating the design of a mobile business application for internal users, it must also review governance practices and policies to determine appropriate user rights and validation across multiple applications. For example, if a user has access to a business intelligence application that integrates and delivers data from multiple legacy, best-of-breed and ERP systems, the enterprise must decide what type of data and access each user is entitled to enjoy. Typically, enterprise users are assigned specific rights for each system but a particular business may have a need to restrict usage by the location of the user, online vs. offline use, in-house vs. mobile access, etc.
While there is no one way to review and a create security and user access plan, it is imperative that a mobile application design include a thorough review of enterprise requirements, user requirements, government and industry regulations and other factors that will affect information and user security. If a business does not have the skill or experience to create such a plan, the wise decision would be to employ the services of a mobile application development team with in-depth security compliance experience and domain knowledge.
