BlackVector Labs | "We think like attackers. We report like auditors."
Mobile Application Penetration Testing
A professional security assessment of your Android and iOS applications — conducted the way real adversaries operate, delivered in a way your team can act on.
Our Approach
What sets our testing apart
Mobile applications operate across environments outside your control — personal devices, untrusted networks, third-party operating systems. Our assessments reflect that reality.
01
Adversarial Realism
We test the way attackers operate — reasoning about your application's specific logic, chaining findings, and thinking beyond automated scan results.
02
Risk proportionality
We calibrate depth and focus to your application's actual risk profile. A banking app demands different scrutiny than a productivity tool.
03
Actionable outcomes
Every finding includes a business-impact statement, reliable reproduction steps, and implementation-ready remediation guidance your developers can use immediately.
Engagement Models
Choose your assessment depth
We offer three assessment models matched to different stages of application maturity and organizational goals.
STANDARD
Black Box
External attacker simulation
We receive only the application binary. No credentials, no documentation, no source code.
RECOMMENDED
Grey Box
Informed threat simulation
Binary plus test credentials and API documentation. Balances realism with efficiency for the highest coverage-to-effort ratio.
STANDARD
White Box
Full source audit
Complete source code, architecture documentation, and backend access. Ideal before launch or for compliance-driven audits.
Six-phase assessment process
01. Scoping & Threat Modeling
We map your application's architecture, user roles, data flows, and third-party integrations — and build a prioritized threat model before a single tool is launched.
02. Static Analysis
We examine the binary, manifest, configuration files, decompiled logic, and embedded third-party libraries without execution to identify structural vulnerabilities and sensitive data exposures.
03. Dynamic Analysis
We instrument the running application at key execution points — authentication, storage, crypto, network — to observe real behavior, validate static findings, and uncover runtime-only vulnerabilities.
04. Network & API Security
All application traffic is intercepted and examined for transport security weaknesses, API authorization flaws, token handling vulnerabilities, and sensitive data exposure in transit.
05. Data Security & Privacy
We inspect every local data store — preferences, databases, cache, keychain — and audit log output, clipboard behavior, notification content, and third-party SDK data transmission.
06. Platform & Binary Hardening
We assess root and jailbreak detection, application integrity verification, code obfuscation, debugger detection, and native library security — the controls that raise the cost of sophisticated attacks.
Focused Testing Areas
What we examine in depth
Eight primary security domains, each examined with dedicated test cases derived from OWASP MASTG and real-world attack intelligence.
Authentication & Authorization
-
Bypass via exported components
-
Biometric authentication weaknesses
-
Broken object-level authorization (IDOR)
-
Privilege escalation via parameter tampering
-
OAuth 2.0 / PKCE misconfiguration
Network & Transport Security
-
Cleartext HTTP communication
-
Certificate validation bypass
-
Missing or bypassable certificate pinning
-
Sensitive data in URL parameters
-
Outdated TLS / weak cipher suites
IPC & Component Security
-
Exported activities without access controls
-
SQL injection via content providers
-
Path traversal via content providers
-
Intent injection via broadcast receivers
-
Deep link parameter injection
Session Management
-
Session tokens stored without encryption
-
Tokens not invalidated on logout
-
JWT algorithm confusion attacks
-
Session fixation vulnerabilities
-
Missing token binding controls
Cryptography
-
Weak or deprecated algorithms (MD5, DES, SHA-1)
-
Hardcoded keys and initialization vectors
-
AES in ECB mode
-
Insecure random number generation
-
Improper platform keystore usage
Data Storage
-
Plaintext credentials in shared preferences
-
Unencrypted SQLite / CoreData databases
-
World-readable files on shared storage
-
Sensitive data in application logs
-
Full data extraction via ADB backup
WebView Security
-
JavaScript bridge exposure
-
Universal file access from JS context
-
SSL error acceptance in WebView
-
Open redirect in URL loading
-
Mixed content loading
Binary & Platform Hardening
-
Root and jailbreak detection bypass
-
Application integrity verification absence
-
Debuggable production builds
-
Absent code obfuscation
-
Native library binary protections
What You Receive
Assessment deliverables
Every engagement concludes with a complete package of outputs designed for both technical teams and executive stakeholders.
Detailed Findings Document
A comprehensive vulnerability report structured for your development and security teams, with everything needed to understand and remediate each finding:
​
1. Severity rating with CVSS score.
2. CWE and OWASP Mobile Top 10 mapping.
3. Reliable steps to reproduce.
4. Proof of concept evidence.
5. Business impact analysis.
6. Implementation-ready remediation guidance
Issue Tracking Spreadsheet
​A structured spreadsheet of all findings with severity ratings, affected components, and tracking columns — ready to integrate into your existing project management workflow.
​
1. Severity and CVSS score per finding.
2. Affected component references.
3. Remediation owner assignment field.
4. Target date and status tracking columns
Leadership Briefing Document
​A concise, non-technical summary of the overall security posture, key risk themes, and prioritized recommendations for leadership and board audiences.
​
1. Overall risk rating.
2. Finding count by severity
3. Key risk themes in plain language.
4. Prioritized remediation roadmap.
Post-Fix Retest (Optional)
​Following your team's remediation effort, we retest all identified findings to confirm effective resolution and verify that fixes have not introduced new issues.
​
1. Full retest of all original findings.
2. Closure confirmation or updated status.
3. Regression check for new vulnerabilities.
4. Offered at reduced rate as follow-on
Common Questions
Frequently asked questions
Will testing affect our live application or users?
No. All testing is conducted against a designated test build or test environment using accounts provisioned specifically for the engagement. We do not interact with production systems or live user data unless explicitly agreed in writing with specific additional safeguards in place.
Do you need access to our source code?
Source code is not required for Black Box or Grey Box assessments. White Box assessments benefit from source access and yield higher-confidence findings. We conduct effective assessments across all three models.
How long does an assessment take?
A standard Grey Box assessment of a single-platform application typically spans seven to ten business days, depending on application complexity and API surface size. We provide a precise estimate after the scoping call.
What happens if a critical vulnerability is found during testing?
We notify your designated point of contact immediately upon confirming a Critical finding — we do not wait for the final report. This allows your team to begin response planning while testing continues.
What do we need to prepare before the engagement?
We will request the application binary (APK or IPA), test accounts at each privilege level, API documentation where available, and confirmation of the backend test environment. A signed Rules of Engagement document is required before any testing begins