A recent surge of reported vulnerabilities in mobile apps have pushed top anti-malware companies to change their posture and begin adapting to a world where virtualization. Though, it is a highly valuable tool, but it can also create an untrusted environment. Virtualization redefines how enterprises think about their software risk exposure and how to best manage their business-critical software assets. The biggest issue with app security thus is untrusted environment. These apps run everywhere, from secure corporate networks to insecure Wi-Fi services to potentially compromised home networks. Combined with the success rate of straightforward attacks, apps in untrusted environments represent massive risk. The result is an increasing need for application shielding, a way to protect apps running in untrusted environments and deliver actionable threat data.

New protection guidelines have been released around how mobile apps handle, store, and protect sensitive information. Companies need to start with best practices in app development, such as writing secure code, only using authorized APIs, and regularly testing apps prior to deployment. Application shielding makes apps more resistant to intrusion, inspection, tampering, and reverse engineering. In addition, it may also collect data to both identify attack vectors and help prevent future attacks. It is a critical link once applications go live in untrusted environments.