In the ever-evolving landscape of mobile applications, especially those dealing with sensitive financial transactions, security is paramount. Approov, an advanced App and API security solution, takes a multifaceted approach to ensure the integrity of protected APIs, with a focus on the recently introduced Payment Card Industry (PCI) Mobile Payments on COTS (Commercial-off-the-Shelf) devices (MPoC) standard.

The Approov Security Framework: An Overview

Approov employs a three-tiered security strategy to fortify mobile applications:

1. Dynamic TLS Pinning: This ensures the protection of communication channels, safeguarding the exchange of encrypted data between the app and APIs.
2. Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP): Integrated defenses within the app shield against various threats, including rooting, jailbreaking, emulators, debuggers, and instrumentation frameworks.
3. App/Device Attestation: A patented remote attestation model forms the backbone of Approov’s security. The external Approov Cloud delivers credentials for accessing protected APIs after evaluating intricate measurements gathered by the Approov SDK within the protected app.

Benefits of Approov’s Attestation Approach

1. Positive Identification: Attestation positively identifies legitimate API clients, thwarting conventional attack vectors such as scripts, bots, or modified apps.
2. Dynamic API Key: By adopting a remote attestation approach, the app itself becomes the API key, minimizing the risk associated with holding all information required to access the protected API.
3. Advanced Real Time Threat Detection: The Approov SDK incorporates numerous threat detections for app and API security, offering robust protection against emerging risks.
4. Secure Communication with Approov Cloud: This facilitates additional features, including the collection of threat data and metrics for informed decision-making.
5. Dynamic Pinning and Security Policies: Approov’s interaction with the cloud enables dynamic pinning, enhancing communication channels’ security. It also allows the adjustment of security checks through dynamic security policies.
6. Runtime Secrets Delivery: Apps can be deployed without embedded secrets, with the delivery of secrets occurring at runtime post-successful attestation. This feature ensures a secure deployment process and aids in delivering other configuration data as needed.

PCI MPoC Compliance and the Need for Advanced Threat Detection

As the world moves towards SoftPOS solutions on COTS devices, the PCI MPoC standard emerges as a critical framework for certification. Approov’s attestation capabilities align seamlessly with the requirements outlined in PCI MPoC.

Why PCI MPoC Matters

1. Rapid Growth of SoftPOS: The global user base for SoftPOS is projected to grow by 475% by 2027, indicating a significant shift in payment methods.
2. Changing Payment Landscape: More than 60% of consumers globally are anticipated to use mobile wallets and payment apps by 2026, highlighting the growing reliance on mobile financial transactions.
3. Merchant Adoption of SoftPOS: Over 34.5 million merchants are predicted to use SoftPOS technology by 2027, indicating a paradigm shift in payment processing.

Challenges and Solutions

• Inherent Insecurity of Mobile Platforms: Mobile platforms face trust issues due to delayed security patching, outdated devices, and zero-day vulnerabilities. These challenges create a breeding ground for threats, compromising data safety. Proactively addressing these issues is vital to ensure a secure foundation, allowing users to engage confidently without constant security threats.
• Dynamic Threat Awareness: Static defenses are insufficient for applications requiring ongoing security. Dynamic threat awareness becomes crucial, especially for applications dealing with financial transactions.
• Risk Management Through Attestation: The ability of the mobile application to attest to its operating environment’s status is crucial for risk management. Approov’s attestation capabilities provide actionable threat visibility at runtime, enabling policy-driven application self-protection.

Conclusion

Approov Mobile Security emerges as a robust solution for applications aiming to meet the requirements of PCI MPoC compliance. Its innovative approach to attestation, dynamic threat detection, and seamless integration with evolving industry standards position it as a crucial component in securing the future of mobile financial transactions. As the payment landscape continues to transform, Approov stands as a reliable partner, ensuring the integrity and security of mobile applications in an ever-changing digital ecosystem.

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*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Approov Blog authored by Pearce Erensel. Read the original post at: https://blog.approov.io/empowering-mobile-payments-approovs-security-and-pci-mpoc-mastery