Mobile App Security: Zero Trust with Hexnode UEM & Quokka

TL;DR (Key Takeaways)

• Device security isn’t enough. App risks are the hidden gap.
• App vetting exposes critical risks MTD can’t — at half the cost.
• App vetting doesn’t require on-device agents.
• Quokka + Hexnode unite device management and app vetting.
• Hexnode enforces Zero Trust with Quokka’s agentless app intelligence for automated, app-level Conditional Access.

The Hidden Blind Spot in Mobile Security

Enterprises have invested heavily in device management, using platforms like Hexnode UEM to secure configurations, apply policies, and enforce compliance. But management isn’t security.

Historically, Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) solutions have been the primary tool for securing mobile endpoints. But MTD focuses on device-level security, missing the larger, application-specific risks that modern enterprises face.

Mobile app vetting is the proactive, app-centric approach that goes beyond malware detection to evaluate security, privacy, and compliance risks at the source. While both mobile app vetting and MTD solutions are generally integrated with UEM solutions, their deployment methods, scalability, and impact on security differ greatly.

Limitations of Mobile Threat Defense

MTD solutions typically focus on detecting known malware, network anomalies, and device vulnerabilities. While these are important, relying solely on MTD exposes several gaps in mobile security:

1. Reactive, not proactive:

The core difference lies in their philosophy: vetting is about prevention, while MTD is about detection and response. By vetting apps before they are ever installed, an organization eliminates the risk of a malicious or risky app gaining access to sensitive data in the first place. MTD, by contrast, relies on its ability to detect a threat once it’s already on the device, which may be too late. A clever piece of malware could exfiltrate data before the MTD solution even flags it.

2. Limited visibility into app behavior:

App stores like Google Play and Apple’s App Store have made significant strides in keeping out blatantly malicious apps. However, they are less effective at flagging apps with risky but not overtly malicious behavior, such as those that leak data, request excessive permissions, or connect to insecure backend servers. MTD often cannot identify more subtle threats such as:

• App collusion: When two or more apps interact to bypass permissions or extract sensitive data in ways invisible to device-level monitoring.
• Unauthorized data sharing: Apps that transmit user or corporate data to third parties without consent, often hidden within legitimate SDKs or analytics frameworks.
• Surveillance or spyware behaviors: Stealth tracking or background monitoring that violates privacy regulations, often masked as benign functionality.
• Third-party library vulnerabilities (SBOM): MTDs lack the ability to produce or analyze Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs), leaving organizations blind to vulnerabilities introduced through third-party SDKs or libraries embedded in the app.
• Analyzing RASP-enabled applications: MTD operates at runtime on the device, but cannot effectively inspect apps protected by Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) or obfuscation technologies. These protections block instrumentation, meaning risky behaviors inside the compiled binary often go undetected.
• Zero-day malware: Because MTD relies heavily on signature- or behavior-based detection, it struggles to identify zero-day threats embedded within legitimate app binaries — especially those using novel evasion or encryption techniques.

3. On-device requirement:

MTD requires an on-device agent to monitor device behavior, consuming device resources like battery and processing power. End users are often resistant to MTD apps because of this battery consumption as well as privacy concerns. End user friction and concerns make large-scale deployments a challenge. When end user concerns aren’t an issue, the on-device agent typically requires a registration, which frequently fails and makes the deployment fragile. This reliance on an on-device agent also drives up the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) through constant troubleshooting, deployment failures, and device performance complaints.

From Reactive to Proactive: Why App Vetting Matters

Traditional MTD reacts to threats. Mobile app vetting is proactive, analyzing and monitoring apps to detect flaws, privacy violations, and malicious behavior before they become incidents. Quokka brings this capability to life with Q-scout. Q-scout offers continuous mobile app vetting, seamless UEM integration, and actionable insights — at half the cost of most MTD solutions.

Addressing Mobile Application Supply Chain Risk

A critical component of modern security is visibility into the application supply chain. Mobile App Vetting is the only way to proactively address this. It involves deep analysis of the application’s components, including third-party SDKs and libraries, via the Software Bill of Materials (SBOM). By identifying and assessing these hidden risks before the app is deployed, organizations eliminate the threat at the source, which is crucial for modern risk management.

Key Benefits of Mobile App Vetting:

• Proactive risk mitigation: Vetting identifies threats before they can cause a breach, acting as a crucial first line of defense.
• Compliance and governance: It helps organizations ensure that apps comply with internal security policies and external regulations like GDPR.
• Reduced attack surface: By preventing the installation of risky or malicious apps, vetting significantly reduces the number of potential entry points for attackers.
• Visibility and control: It provides a clear understanding of the security posture of every app used in the enterprise, allowing for better management and policy enforcement.

Unified Protection: How Quokka + Hexnode Work Together

Quokka and Hexnode have partnered to deliver an integrated mobile security solution, uniting UEM control with real-time mobile app vetting.

Together, Hexnode and Quokka enable security teams to manage and secure both devices and the apps that run on them, creating true end-to-end protection and acting as a critical enforcement point for your Zero Trust strategy across the mobile ecosystem.

Real-World Impact: Smarter Mobile Risk Management

This combined solution helps enterprises:

• Achieve full visibility into installed, sideloaded, and third-party apps.
• View Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs) for every app, providing visibility into supply chain security
• Automate risk reduction with continuous behavioral analysis.
• Simplify compliance with audit-ready risk mapping to frameworks like OWASP Mobile Top 10.

By combining Hexnode’s device management with Quokka’s continuous app risk monitoring, organizations can strengthen and scale mobile security without added complexity. Visit the Quokka Q-scout listing in the Hexnode Marketplace to learn more about the integration.

FAQs

1. How does Hexnode enforce a policy block without an on-device mobile agent?

Quokka’s intelligence is synced to the Hexnode UEM console via an API. Hexnode uses its existing management framework—such as Conditional Access policies enforced at the network or application layer (e.g., controlling access to Exchange or Microsoft 365)—to block resource access based on the risk score provided by Quokka. No new mobile agent is needed; the enforcement leverages Hexnode’s core UEM capabilities.

2. Is Quokka Q-scout available for both iOS and Android apps?

Yes, Quokka provides comprehensive app vetting and analysis for applications across both the iOS and Android ecosystems, ensuring unified mobile security coverage regardless of the device platform used in the enterprise.

About Quokka

Quokka is a mobile security company trusted by the Fortune 500 and governments worldwide to reduce mobile attack surfaces. Formerly known as Kryptowire, the company was founded in 2011 and is the first and now longest-standing mobile app security solution for the US Federal Government. To learn more, visit https://www.quokka.io/.