Digital.ai, a technology company helping Global 5000 enterprises automate software delivery through its AI-powered DevSecOps platform, has announced the results of its 2024 Application Security Threat Report, quantifying and emphasizing the pervasive risks to applications that run outside corporate firewalls (“in the wild”.)
The results show that the frequency of application attacks is rising as cyber criminals continue to prey on the increasing reliance on web, mobile and desktop apps. Digital.ai says the likelihood of an app being run with modified code on:
° iOS based apps grew from 6% to 20% year-over-year.
° Android based apps grew from 28% to 63% year-over-year.
Specific to mobile applications, both Android and iPhone attacks are surging; Android apps are more likely to be targeted with environmental attacks (94%) than iPhone apps (70%) due to their Open-Source operating system, according to Digital.ai. The study found no link between the popularity of an app and frequency of attack.
The report examined data about threats identified from monitoring applications under active protection: the likelihood of an app being attacked rose 8% year-over-year, with gaming apps and financial services apps facing the highest risk of attack at 76% and 67% respectively. The top reasons for the increase in breached applications:
- Tool democratization, like reverse-engineering tools in the hands of hackers;
- Increased “jailbreaking” has taken root within the community of hackers;
- The surging use of AI/ML increases the productivity of malware developers.
To read the full 2024 report, click here.
