Silo Busting 17: Roel Caers and Sam Rehman: Zero Trust and Mobile

The world of mobile applications is insecure by default. That’s what you learn when you talk with Roel Caers, CEO of Guardsquare. In the latest edition of our #CybersecurityByDesign series, he tells Sam Rehman, our Chief Information Security Officer and SVP, why he’s always taken a zero-trust approach to mobile. Caers says that developers must become “aware of everything that is possible and can be done to mobile applications.” He adds that 2-3% of sensitive apps “run on malicious devices, jailbroken or something else done to the device, and that’s a lot.” As Rehman reminds us: One jailbroken device is all you need to cause major mayhem, “because it can tap into the app store.” “The fact that these applications are not protected—it creates a huge attraction to hackers,” notes Caers. “It’s not only about data—it’s also about piracy or cloning or IP theft.” Our conversationalists also talk about reverse engineering, lookalike code, the integrity of apps, and static and dynamic protection, among other salient topics. Much to learn here for anyone who uses apps (which is to say: pretty much everyone). Listen up! Host: Alison Kotin Engineer: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon