How AppSealing is emerging as the go-to-market app security solution for the fintech and gaming startups

Ignoring the cyber security threats can cost app developers a heavy amount, to the extent of businesses closing down. These threats become a mandate for app developers and companies to integrate security into their strategies while marketing their products and protecting their users' interests. This is where AppSealing, a mobile app security technology by INKA Entworks, is helping developers to boost the productivity of their apps.

Where it all started

The journey of INKA Entworks dates back to 2000 when its founder James Sunghim Ahn initiated the company to solve interoperability between content security, a new type of medium which aimed to replace compact discs and end-to-end contents and application security. However, in 2014, when the team observed that the gaming market was the most vulnerable sector, they tapped into it. "Only software development kit-based security was available to protect mobile gaming apps but these solutions took time to research and integrate in the CI/CD pipeline and the go-to-market period was longer," says James Sunghim Ahn, Founder, and CEO, INKA Entworks, and the inventor of AppSealing with several patents under his name.

The list would include

1. Apparatus and Method of Providing Security, and Apparatus and Method of Executing Security for Protecting Code of Shared Object, registered in US, Japan, Korea and filed in China, under the patent no. US 11,061,998.
2. The next in line would be Apparatus For Protecting Binary Code, registered in the US, Japan, China, and Korea, under the patent number US 9,965,621.
3. Method And Apparatus For Protecting Dynamic Library, registered in Japan, China, and Korea, registered under the numberJapan 6227772, and many more…

At this juncture, we would like to introduce Govindraj Basatwar, better pronounced as a visionary and a techno-Commercial evangelist is a creator, developer, and executer, and has curated a well-structured vision for his team. He has successfully created a SaaS business model with multi million dollar revenues globally, banking on his proven leadership track record of establishing foreign companies in India, dealing with segments like strategy, business plan, sales, and business development activities,

Govindraj was responsible for creating the global Market for AppSealing from GTM to execution of aggressive Sales and Marketing and this is when Appsealing was introduced as a Security-as-a-Service and simple plug-n-play solution for real money gaming and fintech apps in India. Moreover, this is the only cloud-based security framework that’s easy to use and allows the user to instantly protect mobile apps from hackers and illegal application modification, thus making it secure in run-time with RASP security features.

Today, the company protects a whopping 800+ apps and covers 1 billion+ active devices under its radar. The solution has also proactively blocked 180 million+ threats on devices and caters to clients from across industries like FinTech, media, banking, healthcare, public apps, and e-commerce listing some of the prominent names like Paytm First Games, BajajFinserv, Kotak General Insurance, DCB Bank, Mobile Premier League (MPL), TVS Credit, Hike- Rush app, Smilegate, Nexon, to name a few. Of course, the best part remains that there is no in-house monthly cost or maintenance charge, and companies can save up to 40% costs with immense potential to increase the revenue.

Spreading uniqueness- No-code, simple plug-n-play, securing apps in minutes

Checkpoint research from 2021 found that four in 10 mobile devices globally are vulnerable to cyber attacks while welcoming a 15% increase in trojan activities. So, to sum up, mobile application security is a must. “We do it right as we take the load off the teams so they can focus on innovation and product development while leaving the security concerns to us”, added Govindraj.

“Our plug-n-play model and no-code requirement make it ideal for companies to make security a priority without really having to worry about it. We provide real-time threat analytics to ensure proactive scanning and checks. Pretty much anybody from the team with minimal technical skills and know-how can use our product”, he added.

Thus, to place in a nutshell, AppSealing is a highly affordable and unique solution, ensuring a robust security with a real-time threat analytics dashboard, minus a single line of coding. In addition, users can always lay their hands on unlimited free trials supporting both the Android and iOS devices, and also the hybrid apps. Adding more to it, the solution comes without an annual maintenance charge (AMC), hardware setup or tech support cost, meeting compliance requirements, and data localisation rules.

As Govindraj points out, some sectors are specifically more prone to attacks, thereby claiming their solution to be catered in an optimum fashion. The financial industry, for example, witnessed a 238% increase in attacks from Feb 2020 to April 2020 alone, while the gaming industry saw a 340% spike in attacks in 2020 as compared to 2019. AppSealing was one of the early pioneers in identifying these major sectors and discussed the same with industry and security experts like Gartner.

The solution is priced reasonably, thereby making it affordable for both small and big user traffic-based applications. Besides, the technical support and customer success team are always available 24x7. “The AppSealing team stays on top of the market by regularly getting customer feedback to improve their solution or feature sets”, assures the evangelist.

Offering custom Runtime Features banking on software distribution model

AppSealing is known for offering the whole range of mobile application protection features, which would include tampering, intrusion, reverse-engineering, and protection from malware attacks. “Over some time, our client engagements have helped us hone our products to cover a wider spectrum of features including data localisation, real-time threats, robust user behavior to name a few. Our SaaS-based model and pay-per-use options help our customers adopt mobile application security in a cost-effective yet swift manner,

Besides, we also offer an SDK and On-premise solution for customers who are looking to follow the data localisation rules,” added Govindraj.

Adding more feathers to its cap, AppSealing has been voted #1 App Shielding and Runtime security solution by Cybersecurity excellence 2022 and G2 a leading comparison website.

“We vouch for our innovative product that has helped us gain an edge over the competitors by reducing the turnaround time for app security from 30 days to a record 10 minutes. So the meantime to detect and block critical threats is the same. Further, our runtime application self-protection or the RASP feature, helps secure apps in minutes. Unlike other players, we offer an end-to-end security layer loaded with rich features like source code protection, cheat tools, and emulator detection, while at the same time our threat hunting team and AI engine proactively scans the dark web to find potential loopholes and emerging threats ,” explained Govindraj.

Covid has been a game changer with users immigrating to the digital space from the offline mode. This has in turn witnessed a surge in both known and unknown threats for mobile app owners, further leading to the loss of revenue, and customer trust.

Talking of threats, they are a common thing in the cyber security space. Thus, for gaining back the seamless customer experience while keeping them secure, Appsealing has loaded its security features with upgraded versions to keep up with the changes in the system, and to assure customers that they have opted for the best.

As the COVID-19 pandemic compelled customers to embrace digital payment alternatives, the AppSealing team was able to extract feedback from multiple clients from the OTT and Fintech space, as they were among the segments that were more prone to cyberattacks during the pandemic.

Strengthening the ecosystem in 2022 and beyond

Right now, AppSealing is a 14-member team comprising security professionals, developers, and teams for sales, marketing, and customer success, and their solution has witnessed a 5x growth since last year “Since we started, the rise in Indian customers has seen a surge from 0 to 5X Y-O-Y,” he added.

Govindraj feels that 2022 would prove itself to be a major growth year for AppSealing. Customers are increasingly becoming dependent on mobile applications for transactions and data sharing, while companies are opting for mobile application security as a key strategy. “As new attack vectors emerge, what is required is a holistic battle plan to ensure sufficient coverage of these vectors and threats. With AppSealing, companies can get mobile application security solutions for Android, iOS and hybrid applications. Data encryption is another area that we have been exploring and is available as an add-on. We are also working on covering more industries as we speak while looking forward to serving our customers and providing them with hassle-free, seamless, complete mobile application security,” says Govindraj.

Security Solutions for the startup space

AppSealing also offers special credits to start-up companies to boost the Indian startup ecosystem, which has a scheme of 30 days free trial and $129 credit for a month when it goes live.

To this, Govindraj added “In today’s application-focused world, security can’t slow down your speed of development. We have partners who will help us reach all sectors and expand our reach globally to make mobile apps safer to use and transact. Right now, we have more than 10 partners globally but are willing to add more over the years through our partner program.”

Development of new features in the long run

As companies embrace digital payments and remote working, AppSealing’s relevance increases significantly. The company has witnessed a 10X growth in the number of customers over the past few years, having hosted solutions locally, aiding companies to comply with localisation norms and specific regulations. Looking further, the plans are listed as they are looking to support emerging mobile app frameworks and work on new add-on securities like ssl pinning, spoofed Wi-Fi detection, anti-bot, malware detection features and support low code platforms.

“We are betting big on India, US, APAC, and EU geographies as we see great traction in mobile usage and transactions, and are partnering with the world’s leading technology experts to bring the best of mobile application security to the DevSecOps community,” conjectures Govindraj.