Reading time: 10 min
Published September 11, 2024
Chief Product Officer, Ispirer Systems
In brief: How well do you know your app? Yes, the one you see in your nightmares and that haunts you. It's the same app that has a bunch of performance issues, security issues, and a bunch of other troubles. The app that you don’t know what to do with if it crashes.
Today we’ll talk about app auditing. What is it? How do you plan an audit so that you can learn everything about it? And most importantly, we’ll help you answer the question “Why do I need it at all?”
What is an App Audit?
An app audit is an in-depth assessment of an application that is aimed at revealing hidden vulnerabilities, potential security breaches, and performance issues. It includes analyzing the code, architecture, and configuration, and identifying data security issues that hackers could potentially exploit.
The audit may be performed manually or automatically, but it includes the following:
- Identifying security risks
- Assessing the impact of those risks
- Recommendation to avoid them
To conduct a high-quality audit, it is necessary to draw up a detailed plan and define audit objectives.
Plan the Audit
Before conducting a detailed roadmap of an audit, it is crucial to understand its main goal, assess potential risks, and review the app architecture, and a database. Let’s make it clear.
Goal: why do you need the audit?
A key factor influencing an application audit is the context or reason for its initiation. What is prompting the audit? Is it part of a routine audit schedule, or is it an unexpected, one-time assessment? The underlying need often aligns closely with the main objective of the audit. For instance, if management seeks confirmation that a new application is functioning as intended, this will shape the audit's goals and approach.
Potential risks: are there any?
The second thing you should be aware of is risks, considering the main goal of the audit that was determined previously. The IT auditor or audit team should assess the risks related to the application, including its data, sources, infrastructure, and systems. For instance, potential risk scenarios might involve the application lacking required functionality, containing errors or bugs, struggling to integrate or interface with other applications or systems, experiencing data inaccuracies, or encountering similar issues.
Once the risks are identified, the auditor should determine if these risks impact the goal, auditing plan, and audit procedures. For instance, lacking functionality is a risk, the IT auditor should examine the original information requirements, review tests, review a user acceptance document, and test the application.
Architecture: understand the backbone of an application
There are various application architectures, ranging from monolith apps hosted on servers to microservices hosted on small cloud instances. Before making any changes to the application it is essential to conduct an architecture review.
The majority of traditional applications are monolithic and are hosted on in-house or privately managed services. It's crucial to maintain security and update the status of the operating system and any other software in these situations. You might also want to examine server usage to determine if there's a need to boost CPU, RAM, or storage capacity to accommodate growth.
Here are some questions related to hardware architecture that you should consider:
- Do you possess any servers on-site?
- Which third-party services do you utilize for hosting?
- What resources are accessible and used for each?
Database: it is worth analyzing
If it is necessary to audit a web application then you should remember that databases come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from SQL Server to Oracle or MySQL, while many applications use multiple databases.
Begin by inventorying each database and identifying the kind of data it holds. Then, assess if there are any potential enhancements to improve performance. For instance, you might notice that a database is significantly large, but lacks indexes or relationships, leading to reduced performance. Document these performance improvement suggestions for subsequent review.
Why Conduct App Security Audit?
The importance of application security cannot be underestimated. Did you know that 43% of cyber-attacks are targeted at small businesses? It is quite intimidating, isn’t it?
Hackers are usually interested in personal data such as email addresses, phone numbers, account numbers, etc. If a hacker can access this information through your App (may it be a mobile app, web app, etc.), it invariably becomes a hot target.
A great security audit may simulate hackers' attacks to make sure your application is resistant enough to such attacks.
3 Main types of web application audit
When it comes to auditing web applications, there are three main types- security audits, usability audits, and performance audits.
Security Audit
Security audits are vital for detecting potential risks and flaws in web applications. These evaluations concentrate on examining different facets of security, such as verification methods, data encryption, access management, and security protocols. Through performing security assessments, companies can lessen the likelihood of data leaks, unauthorized entry, and other online dangers.
In a security review, specialists analyze the code of the application, server setups, and network infrastructure to detect any possible security vulnerabilities. They might also conduct penetration tests to mimic actual attacks and evaluate the application's resilience against them. Furthermore, security reviews can encompass vulnerability scans, code assessments, and compliance verifications to confirm that the application adheres to industry norms and regulatory requirements.
Performance Audit
Performance assessments are crucial for assessing the adaptability, scalability, and effectiveness of web applications. These assessments concentrate on examining elements that influence the application's performance, including server response time, page loading rates, database engagements, and comprehensive system performance.
Professionals use a range of methods and instruments to evaluate and analyze the performance indicators of an application. They might perform load testing to examine how the application manages simultaneous user requests, and stress testing to ascertain its boundaries. Furthermore, performance evaluations might include scrutinizing the application's code, database queries, and server setups to detect any potential slowdowns or inefficiencies.
Usability Audit
Usability audits focus on assessing the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) aspects of web applications. These audits aim to evaluate factors such as responsiveness, navigation, consistency, and overall user-friendliness. In a usability review, specialists analyze the app's user interface design, data structure, and interaction models to pinpoint any usability problems. They might carry out user testing sessions to collect responses from real users and watch their interaction with the app. Furthermore, usability assessments, where specialists evaluate the app following recognized usability standards and rules, may be part of usability reviews.
Benefits of Application audit
The main benefits of application auditing include:
- Security Enhancement. By systematically reviewing your app's code and architecture, an audit can identify and address vulnerabilities, ensuring that your application is better protected against potential threats and breaches.
- Performance Optimization. An audit helps pinpoint performance bottlenecks and inefficiencies. It helps you to optimize the app’s speed and responsiveness, which can lead to a smoother user experience and higher engagement.
- User Experience Improvement. An in-depth analysis of user interactions and feedback can uncover areas where the app’s design or functionality may be falling short. In the long run, such an audit enhances overall user satisfaction and retention.
Let’s conclude
As you already understand, an application audit is an inevitable step that any organization with web or mobile apps should conduct.
Auditing your apps means not only enhancing their security, it is also a step toward improving user experience, customer satisfaction, and overall efficiency.
To make a high-quality app audit, the auditors should be real professionals. If you are in search of a team of professionals that will deeply analyze your apps, and make expert recommendations, you contact us for an application audit. We can handle all the necessary application analyzes to move your app to a new level of performance. Please do not hesitate to get a consultation from an expert.
