DEVOPSdigest

As organizations race to deliver apps at an unprecedented pace, the rise of freely available AI tools with sophisticated capabilities has made it easier than ever for threat actors to effortlessly reverse-engineer, analyze, and exploit applications at an alarming scale.

Most (83%) applications are under constant attack, a nearly 20% increase from last year, with attack rates surging across all industries, most significantly in telecom (91%), FinServ (87.5%), automotive (86%), and healthcare (78.5%), according to the State of App Sec Threat Report from Digital.ai.

While Android apps have historically been targeted more often (90.4%), the gap has narrowed as iOS attacks increased (88.1%), with the rise in jailbreaking and advanced exploitation techniques.

Derek Holt, CEO, Digital.ai, said, "We live in an app-first world that is shaping our lives, dominating brands, and transforming daily interactions between businesses and consumers. For enterprises, apps represent a gainful bridge to their consumers and employees, but for threat actors, these apps represent lucrative targets. Today, we see more attackers expanding their focus to target not just flagship apps but secondary apps, plugins, add-ons, and more. As AI exponentially increases the capabilities of threat actors, businesses must dramatically increase their ability to protect and monitor all applications against reverse engineering, tampering, and man-in-the-middle attacks. Delivering applications without these security protections is like leaving your front door unlocked and wide open."

The report results highlight that no sector is immune — even previously less-targeted industries, such as healthcare and automotive, are now under significant threat.

Three coinciding trends are contributing to the growing frequency of attacks:

■ Tool democratization is expanding. Reverse-engineering tools (Frida, Ghidra, etc.) continue to proliferate and attract large communities of users likely to share ideas, tips, and tricks.

■ The proliferation of AI tools used by threat actors. GenAI assists in both malware development (more malware, created faster) and in source code analysis.

■ Apps are growing at an unprecedented rate. The growing attack surface not only increases the total number of attacks due to incomplete security coverage but also provides fertile ground for threat actors to thrive. White-hat and black-hat hackers typically learn by doing, and the rapidly escalating number of apps offer ample opportunities to hone their skills.

Organizations that have implemented app protection measures are staying ahead of increasingly sophisticated attacks, while those without these defenses remain vulnerable targets.