Mobile Cybersecurity Trends for 2025: Key Predictions and Preparations – Source: securityboulevard.com

All the key players in cyber-security make predictions at the end of every year and 2025 is no exception, there was a flurry of predictions which are nicely summarized here. 

So why would we add our thoughts to an already crowded field (and in January..)? Well no one seems to have looked specifically at mobile cybersecurity. As everyone should know by now, mobile app security is an issue which must be taken seriously, and having some insight into key trends is important. 

We do think that our expansive customer base, ongoing research initiatives and the insights we collect from our live threat metrics, give us some visibility into trends. So here goes…If you are responsible for mobile app security, here are seven mobile security trends to think about. We hope this helps you prepare your own plan for navigating the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in 2025. 

The 7 Big Mobile Security Trends to Plan for in 2025

1. Alternative app stores are so 2024! “Direct to consumer” will be the new trend in 2025

We have reported extensively on the pressure building on Apple and Google during 2024 to break up their lucrative monopolistic practices which lock in developers. Alternative app stores like the one from Epic Games are up and running. This pressure will increase in 2025 but a whole new front will open up too. 2024 was all about allowing alternative app stores and payment mechanisms, but next up will be a drive to direct-to-consumer models – why do I even need an app store? When I download an app on my laptop, I go right ahead and the laptop manufacturer has no part to play. A new court case in the UK is a sign of what’s to come. Expect continued engagement from the Coalition for App Fairness and from governments around the world to drive this forward. This trend will cause mobile app security to be re-evaluated in 2025: alternatives to native security will need to be found.

How to Adapt Your Security Strategy to Meet This Challenge

As it becomes clear that security provided by Apple, Google, Huawei is actually quite limited, and in any case do not work with alternative app stores and direct to consumer models, it makes a lot of sense to try to find a cross-platform security solution which makes it easy for you to embrace new approaches and platforms.

2. AI Will Continue to be Adopted by Hackers … and Security Teams

2024 was the year when AI started being used everywhere, especially generative AI tools. 

“Agentic AI”, which is capable of independently planning and acting to achieve specific goals, will be exploited by threat actors, and this is unfortunately a good fit for mobile app attacks where attackers orchestrate complex attacks which involve gathering data from a number of sources before using this data to create automated exploits. Another looming threat in 2025 is AI tools making code obfuscation even less effective. Obfuscation methods have been used extensively to protect mobile app code and IP, but AI tools are making it easier than ever for attackers to undo obfuscation. 

On the other hand, AI is also being used to build better defenses. Machine learning has been employed by security tools for a while in app security, particularly where user behaviour or other non-deterministic signals need to be assessed and classified. Concerns have been raised however about the “black box” nature of some of the tools and the AI skills gap in most organizations. OWASP published their first Top 10 for LLM Applications and a guide to AI for CISOs in 2024. 

How to Adapt Your Security Strategy to Meet This Challenge

AI should always be a means to an end, and clear goals such should be set for any new deployment e.g. you must quantify the resource savings and process improvements expected from the automation of security tasks, set a goal for time to market speed increase from faster identification of vulnerabilities etc. It also always makes sense to prioritize deterministic solutions for particular use-cases as alternatives to AI, if such solutions exist, to minimize the risk of false positives. 

3. 2025 Will Be When API Keys in Mobile Apps Are Properly Secured

2024 has been a terrible year for API secrets protection. It continued to be easy to find secrets in mobile app code and it seemed like hardly a week went by without another breach being reported due to theft and misuse of API credentials. Our own research and many other reports show the extent of the problem. The Internet Archive had a nightmare scenario where even after a breach was reported attackers continued to use stolen Zendesk API keys, suggesting that the organization had some challenges rotating compromised keys when an issue was identified. It’s not a surprise that credential management is number 1 on the OWASP Mobile Top Ten but will 2025 be the year when the problem is finally addressed? We really hope so!

How to Adapt Your Security Strategy to Meet This Challenge

The only practical way to ensure secrets are safe is to adopt a dynamic, zero trust security approach. Get them out of your code, and have them delivered only as needed, and only to apps which are verified via attestation. Also make sure they can be updated and rotated immediately across all your apps immediately as required.

4. Cross-Platform Development Will Be The Way Forward For Mobile Apps

In 2025, cross-platform mobile development is expected to be dominated by frameworks like Flutter, React Native, and Xamarin, with a strong focus on achieving near-native performance, leveraging advanced features like AI/ML integration, and catering to new devices and emerging technologies. We predict that we will see “official” support of the HarmonyOS ecosystem in 2025 by the biggest players. 

How to Adapt Your Security Strategy to Meet This Challenge

If you are still developing your apps using native tools, now is the time to consider migrating to a cross-platform framework, or at least moving to a hybrid approach. This should generate substantial cost savings. It’s also time to evaluate your security. There are good third-party security solutions which integrate with cross-platform frameworks in order to provide advanced security across platforms in a consistent and unified way. So you can get the benefits of cross-platform development and improve your security at the same time. 

5. Open Source Scrutiny Will Increase

The mobile ecosystem is highly dependent on open source software and it remains a reliable driver of innovation. However 2024 saw some major issues including the vulnerabilities found in the Cocoapods dependency manager. Clearly, hackers see a path to commit supply chain attacks that could introduce malicious code updates to the corporate software projects that rely on them. During 2024 we also saw governments start to take an interest. The EU has passed the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), and we can expect to see the U.S. gradually developing tighter requirements, on software components especially for software for critical infrastructure and government use.

How to Adapt Your Security Strategy to Meet This Challenge

In preparation for regulations or issues that could disrupt your own software supply chain, you should audit your open source components and dependencies and evaluate alternatives for any risky components of your app. You should also, of course, implement robust dependency management to track and manage open source use and ensure you’re using the latest secure versions as well as investing in frequent vulnerability scanning. You must also invest in runtime protection of your app to provide an additional layer of security.

5. Pinning Communications Channels Will Become The Norm

Man-in-the-Middle attacks continue to be a clear and present danger to mobile apps. Tools such as Proxyman and mitmproxy can be used to intercept encrypted traffic to and from the app. Certificate pinning is the solution and OWASP recommends it. But operational challenges and potential disruptions caused when a certificate changes or expires means that devops teams have been wary of implementing this critical way of protecting the communications channels your app uses.

There are, in fact, solutions that make administration of pinning easy and maintain customer experience. These facilitate the kind of immediate rotation required when Digicert revoked thousands of certificates in July 2024. We believe that 2025 will be the year that these types of dynamic certificate pinning solutions will finally be adopted, eliminating an important attack surface for hackers. 

How to Adapt Your Security Strategy to Meet This Challenge

Evaluating and implementing dynamic certificate pinning on any communications channels your app uses would be a good security improvement to plan for 2025.

6. Breach reporting requirements will require more attention and investment

Breach reporting requirements around the world have become more onerous in 2024, especially in the EU, Japan and Singapore. This trend will continue into 2025. Some industries such as US Healthcare and financial institutions will face even stricter requirements. For the finance industry, PCI DSS 4.0 compliance is coming in 2025. Concerning mobile app breaches, companies are generally required to notify affected users “without unreasonable delay” and within a specific timeframe, providing details of the breach, notifying relevant regulatory bodies at the same time. 

How to Adapt Your Security Strategy to Meet This Challenge

You need to understand the reporting requirements of the industry and the geographies in which you operate and make sure your incident response plan addresses evolving reporting requirements. You should rehearse thoroughly the procedures you will follow if and when there is a breach. In addition, service continuity in the event of a breach should be a key objective for the development team.

For mobile apps specifically, the playbook must include information about rotating any secrets and certificates your app uses, including third-party API keys. You should also include procedures on how you can quickly block rogue devices and apps without affecting genuine users.

Key Takeaway – Run Time Protection 

All of this can be overwhelming but there is one single key takeaway and that is a need to focus on runtime protection for mobile apps. Robust run time protection that works across platforms can prevent apps or devices being tampered with and adds a zero trust layer to other protections that you put in place – every request can be validated. It can also mitigate the limitations of code obfuscation. Dynamic management can allow you to identify and deal with issues as they arise without having to release new versions of your app. A solution such as Approov can continuously verify all aspects of the running mobile ecosystem and allow you to future proof your mobile app security.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Approov Blog authored by George McGregor. Read the original post at: https://blog.approov.io/mobile-cybersecurity-in-2025-what-we-predict-and-how-to-prepare