Mobile app security company NowSecure Inc. today announced Mobile App Risk Intelligence, new capabilities that are designed to give enterprises evidence-based visibility into third-party mobile apps as hidden artificial intelligence features, opaque code and unseen data flows create a growing governance gap.

Employees are adopting mobile apps faster than security teams can evaluate them. Often those apps include AI components, third-party services and cross-border data flows that conventional review methods often fail to detect before risk is introduced.

MARI addresses the problem with evidence-based visibility that supports faster, more defensible approval decisions. The MARI capabilities show what a mobile app actually does, including hidden AI and large language model components, data flows and third-party code.

NowSecure says it has recently tested 50,000 mobile apps and found that 53% contain AI components, with many of those components not visible through traditional app review processes. Because the components can’t be seen, the likelihood of unauthorized data sharing, policy violations and exposure to higher-risk jurisdictions increases before security teams have reliable evidence to act.

“AI is making an already under-governed mobile app problem much harder for enterprises to ignore,” said Chief Executive  Alan Snyder. “Security teams are being asked to approve more third-party mobile apps, with more opaque code, more embedded services and more data risk, but without the evidence they need to make confident decisions. MARI closes that visibility gap.”

MARI expands NowSecure’s support for third-party app governance with deeper evidence, fuller findings and capabilities that include detection of embedded AI and large language model components. There’s also country-level visibility into app data flows and an inventory of software development kits, libraries and other third-party code inside the app.

Other expanded support includes fuller finding visibility and evidence to support more confident risk decisions and for reviewing large mobile app portfolios at enterprise scale. Plain-language summaries connect technical findings to business impact.

Findings can also be exported to support audit, compliance and governance workflows, and policy-based rules can be used to automate app review decisions at scale. Though this launch is focused on strengthening governance for third-party mobile apps, the same mobile app intelligence also supports organizations that need to validate and secure the apps they build themselves.

NowSecure has raised about $29 million in funding, including a round of $15 million in June 2019. Investors in the company include ForgePoint Capital Management, Baird Capital, MATH Venture Partners Management and Modo Capital.

Image: NowSecure