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David Stewart

- Advisor at Approov / Former CEO of Approov
30+ years experience in security products, embedded software tools, design services, design automation tools, chip design.

Approov Blog

Shielding APIs that Service Mobile Apps: Part 3 - How?

February 22, 2022

In the third part of this article series, we will look at the component parts of a shielding approach for APIs which service mobile apps and provide some guidance about what to consider when deploying a protective shield around your mobile business. Read Full Story

Shielding APIs that Service Mobile Apps: Part 2 - What?

February 15, 2022

In the second part of this article series, we are going to explore what shielding of APIs connected to mobile apps actually means. To provide some context, we will also look at how the bad guys approach attacking the APIs that connect with your mobile apps. Read Full Story

Shielding APIs that Service Mobile Apps: Part 1 - Why?

February 8, 2022

In this series of articles, we are going to explore the why, what, how and when of shielding APIs that service mobile apps. Increasingly, mobile represents a special case when it comes to security and we will make the case for some explicit steps you should take if you are working within a company that relies on mobile apps to conduct its business. Read Full Story

Hacking Financial APIs - New Report, Familiar Results

January 20, 2022

Alissa Knight’s latest security research report “Scorched Earth” was recently released. In this blog we’ll look at 3 key themes from the report and the immediate mitigations that banks, crypto companies and fintechs should implement. Read Full Story

How to Defend against App Impersonation in 2022

November 25, 2021

Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2021 in ThreatPost Most users who install applications through legitimate channels such as Google's Play Store or the Apple Store do so with complete trust that their information is safe from malicious attacks. This makes sense because they're the official app stores across the globe. Read Full Story

FHIR API Security Research- 3 Actions for Mobile Healthcare Companies

November 22, 2021

Considering the recent “Playing with FHIR” research report together with the earlier “All that We Let In” research report (which looked at the state of mHealth app/API security), it would be understandable if healthcare organizations were unsure of what immediate actions they should take. In this article we will focus on healthcare service companies who have patient or clinician mobile apps, for whom we will recommend 3 immediate steps which should be taken today. Read Full Story

FHIR API Security Research Sparks Debate

November 9, 2021

Alissa Knight released her report “Playing with FHIR” a couple of weeks ago (download it here) about her investigations into the security of healthcare apps and APIs which use the FHIR standard. This report has certainly sparked a lot of debate about the security of healthcare apps and a broader discussion about who is accountable for keeping patient data safe as the ecosystem expands. The bottom-line is that everyone in the healthcare ecosystem needs to take steps to shield their APIs immediately. Read Full Story

How Certificate Pinning Helps Thwart Mobile MitM Attacks

November 9, 2021

Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2021 in Cyber Defense Magazine. The massive deployment of mobile apps is presenting new attack surfaces to bad actors and the API channel between the apps and backend services is one of the 5 defined attack surfaces in the ecosystem. In this article we will explore the challenges of defending this channel and outline some practical steps you can take to put immediate protection in place. Read Full Story

How To Protect Against Account Takeover In 2021

September 29, 2021

Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2021 in Threatpost. Data breaches and hacking put internet users at risk of account takeover, if cyber-criminals successfully gain access to valid login credentials. There are reckoned to be in excess of 8.4 million discrete passwords currently circulating online, over 3.5 billion of which are tied to active email addresses. Read Full Story

Ensuring Secure Remote Care For The Elderly

September 23, 2021

In this article, we’ll be looking at the role that mobile health or mHealth apps and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are playing in remote care of the elderly. We shall also consider the vulnerabilities that can afflict these digital platforms, as well as remedial measures and best practices for dealing with these issues. Read Full Story