With so much available, it’s easy for developers to overlook a few good tools that can completely change the game. One tool in particular is virus scanning for any content uploaded into your app. You might have traditional software to scan files and look for malware in general, but when it comes to protecting your app, those tools often fall short. Filestack Virus Detection is an API-imbedded scanning system that is specifically designed to work harmoniously with app development.
As an app developer, you might trust your experience and computer skill to save you from malware. That’s a dangerous game to play. According to researchers, Google removes more than a hundred thousand infected or malicious apps from their store every year. Sure, some of those are deliberately uploaded, but many aren’t. There is a serious risk that your app can become infected, and if it does, the results can be catastrophic.
Removing Infected Files
Filestack’s virus detection capabilities simply integrates with Filestack Workflows and transcends simple PC scans. If you run any sort of standard hardware antivirus protocols, it’s going to isolate and possibly delete files that are integral to the function of your app. More importantly, if your app has any level of AI built into it, there’s a good chance that the antivirus heuristics are going to misidentify significant numbers of your app files. If you just plug one of those in and go, you’re very likely to be left with the shredded remains of an app when you’re done.
The complicated nature of removing infected files from an app makes it a painstaking task. At minimum, you’re looking at long labor hours to find and treat everything that has been compromised. Keep in mind, this isn’t just a handful of files that can no longer be safely shared; malware typically causes cascades of corruption. You may need to rebuild big chunks of your app to recover. If, however, you work with an API-based virus protection, you might find that it is much better suited to the task. It can help you correctly identify infected files and safely quarantine them with minimal damage to your app. If nothing else, it will save many, many hours of effort on your part.
Application Down Time
If dealing with malware takes time and effort, then there are only two possible outcomes. Either it happens before you launch and distribute the app, or you are contributing to the proliferation of malware. In the first scenario, you’re looking at missing deadlines or release goals because of the setback. In the second scenario, you’re probably going to have to take your app offline while you hunt for malware. This is lost revenue at best. At worst, you’re destroying user confidence. If you consider the damage done to ISP in a half-hour of downtime, you know that the very future of your app’s success is at stake. Downtime is the enemy of any and all tech, and malware is one of the most dangerous manifestations of that enemy.
Brand Degradation
The reason downtime is so deadly is that it erodes confidence. A user who doesn’t trust your brand won’t download your app. Even worse, if your app negatively contributes to user security, they’ll remove it from their device, tell all of their friends to do the same, and eviscerate you on every forum they can. Every scorned user can potentially lead to dozens of lost users overall. If you unwittingly proliferate malware to a wide user base, you aren’t just looking at losing one app. Your brand will die, and future apps will parish with it.
Data Breach
Even if we set aside the cost of brand degradation and downtime, data breaches are still expensive. In fact, they’re massively expensive. IBM did a study on the subject, and what they found isterrifying. In 2018, the average cost of a data breach was $148 million. The number might include revenue losses tied to brand problems and downtime, but neither of those are the primary issue. The systematic approach to dealing with a data breach is expensive.
At the outset, you have to inform your user base. Depending on how well you have developed communication methods with your users, this can range from less devastating to devastatingly expensive. Still, the bulk of the cost often comes from civil court. Private data is protected by a number of laws and statutes. Even though you won’t be breaking any of them intentionally, data breaches can make you liable for damages.
Clearly, the costs of malware can explode. To get started with Filestack virus detection, reach out to one of our experts today to see first hand how you can take control of protecting your data and app content.
Filestack is a dynamic team dedicated to revolutionizing file uploads and management for web and mobile applications. Our user-friendly API seamlessly integrates with major cloud services, offering developers a reliable and efficient file handling experience.