No one can guarantee the 100% React Native Security for an application. There would be some kind of vulnerabilities involved allowing attackers to inflict damage to the application. Even choosing ReactJS services for building a cross-platform app that ensures speed, agility, scalability, flexibility, and robustness. One more thing to focus upon will be the app’s security.
Simply understand the fact that building React Native mobile app is not only about creating interactive UI/UX, robust features, and ensure seamless processing of data from the API. App’s security must be given an equal set of importance to prevent the movement of attackers.
Being a top React Native Application development company we have enlisted few steps to protect your React Native App from data vulnerabilities and other attacks.
List of Protective Measures to Deal with React Native Security Hassles
1. Take Care of Environmental Variables
One of the React Native mobile app vulnerabilities that you might face is getting sensitive information out of source code. Rectify this issue at the early stage and separate the secrete data from the source code. It will be useful for the app when several APIs or credentials are attached to the app that you do not want to share with anyone. Also, make sure the fact that you can share the source code only at times of developing an open-source project.
Another crucial point to concern is not to configure your app dynamically without changing the source code. Because you forget to do the same, then your files will be exposed to unreliable and harmful entities.
One of the best ways to manage the environmental variable of your React Native mobile app using the library of react-native-dotenv. Do hire React Native developer to make the best use of the library and safeguard sensitive information.
2. Steps Required While Storing Sensitive Data
Just like safeguarding the app’s data is an important factor to stay away from vulnerabilities. Similarly, storing the data with the right type of storage is imperative to prevent sensitivity. For this, you can make the best use of Async Storage and Secure Store to safeguard the crucial set of information.
* Async Storage: It is an encrypted and key-value storage space to keep the sensitive data of the React Native app at ease. The storage space is not shared between apps and each has its own sandbox environment to access the relevant data. On the other side, the storage space is also ideal to store non-sensitive data as well like GraphQL, Redux, and more. Moreover, it is not ideal to store tokens and secrets.
* Secure Store: One thing in which React Native lacks the most is devoid of having storage space for sensitive data. Still, one can use some pre-existing storage solutions to safeguard the information. Like for iOS, Keychain Services are available that allow the storage of even small chunks of sensitive data. As for Android, Shared Preferences is available to progressively store passwords, store tokens, and other crucial information.
3. SSL Pinning
If you are of the opinion that with HTTPS endpoints, your application is completely safe against vulnerabilities, then it’s not like that. There are still chances of attackers attacking your app overcoming the security layer of HTTPS. Thus, safeguard the same by implementing the feature of SSL Pinning. It is used on the client-side to prevent the intrusion of man-in-the-middle attacks. Using this, an embedded list of trusted and signed certificates are kept inside the app during the development stage. Make sure the requests are signed and in case, they are not then, you have to rely on two libraries like React Native Pinch and React Native SSL Pinning.
4. Prevent Rooted Device Access
There are several instances when unwanted entities jailbreak the smartphones of users. In such instances, it will be vulnerable for users to store sensitive information in your React Native app. Thus, these kinds of devices gain unauthorized access and data becomes sensitive to get lost.
To protect your mobile application, make the best use of a library called Jail-Monkey. To utilize the same, first identify of a particular smartphone has been rooted or jail-broken or not. Another thing to consider, if the device is showcasing a fake location and the app is running in the external storage of the device.
Concluding Thoughts
From the above-mentioned steps, it will be possible to provide bulletproof security to React Native mobile app. It is because vulnerabilities are always there to compromise the sensitive data of the app. Moreover, rely on end-to-end React Native Development services of ReactJS India to cover the app security part as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the Key Benefits of Using React Native?
React Native is a cross-platform app development technology that is widely used for developing native apps for Android & iOS platforms. It is convenient to use, cost-effective, offers better code readability, simple to integrate, and offers flexibility to write UI test cases.
2. Why React Native is Better Than Native?
React Native surpasses Native technology to develop cross-platform mobile apps at a faster rate. It increases the overall speed of mobile app development by using a single line of code and create apps for both Android and iOS. From a cost perspective as well, React Native affordable app development as compared to Native one.
3. How React Native Apps are Better Than Hybrid Apps?
There are various that showcase the major difference:
* React Native app development has fewer dependencies.
* No need to rely on cross-platform tools.
* High-speed process as compared to Hybrid apps.
* Interactive design and overall UI/UX.