What is In-App Protection?
Book a demoIn-App Protection covers the technologies that build security directly into a mobile application. Once installed on your users' devices, your application operates in an environment you do not control: reverse engineering, unsecured networks, data exfiltration… With AI, these attacks are becoming more accessible and harder to spot. It therefore has to carry its own defences.
Pradeo In-App Protection is built on two complementary layers of defence. Shielding hardens the application to prevent it from being hijacked and its code from being extracted. Runtime Application Self Protection (RASP) gives the application the ability to sense its environment and react in real time, preventing it from being attacked while it runs.
Protection tailored to you
Pradeo Shielding and RASP are configured to match your applications and your risks. They fit into your development and validation processes.
- Configurable protections
- Responses defined by your rules
- Built into your validation processes
Protect your code, prevent fraud
Algorithms, keys, business logic: everything that gives your application its value can be extracted from its binary. Once cloned or modified, it becomes a direct fraud vector.
- Code obfuscation
- Anti-cloning protection
- Real-time attack detection and response
Meet your compliance requirements
Regulation is tightening: the first Cyber Resilience Act obligations have applied since September 2026. Pradeo helps you meet them.
- NIS2, DORA, Cyber Resilience Act, PCI MPoC, EMV mobile
- Indicators of compromise monitoring
AI has industrialized mobile attacks: protect your applications with European technology
Attackers use AI to analyze, clone and hijack applications at scale. Pradeo In-App Protection responds at every stage: Shielding protects the code before release, RASP defends the application while it runs on your users' devices.
Meet regulatory requirements
Embedded protections are among the requirements for certifying a sensitive application. Pradeo guarantees your sovereignty: technology designed and hosted in Europe, with no collection of your users' data.
- No collection of your users' data
- Technology designed and hosted in Europe
Defensive AI born for mobile
Our protections rely on technology fed by Pradeo Intelligence Center data, and cover the entire lifecycle of your applications, from their code to their execution.
- A dedicated research team
- Protections designed for device-borne threats
- From pre-release testing to runtime protection
Two approaches to In-App Protection
Shielding and RASP come into play at different moments. The first protects the application's code, the second protects it against attacks in real time.
Application shielding
Shielding
Shielding hardens your application's binary before release. Obfuscation, encryption of strings and resources, removal of debug traces: the code becomes extremely hard to analyse, modify and clone.
- Code obfuscation and randomization
- Encryption of strings, resources and assets
- Integrity checks and preconfigured responses
- Integrated through a few quick, configurable settings
Runtime self-protection
RASP
RASP is a library embedded in your application that monitors its environment while it runs. It detects application, network and system threats on the device, and triggers the responses you have defined, for tailored protection.
- 360° detection: applications, network, system
- Automatic on-device responses, defined by your rules
- Security events reported from the field to steer your strategy
- Android SDK and iOS Framework, embedded in hours
Shielding or RASP: how to choose
The two protections address different threats. Most sensitive applications embed both.
| Shielding | Runtime Application Self Protection (RASP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Threats covered | Reverse engineering, cloning, code tampering | Malware, compromised networks, rooted devices, data theft… |
| Integration | Less than an hour | A few hours |
| Monitoring and reporting | Static protection, no monitoring required | Security event flows, to adjust your strategy |
| Performance impact | Negligible, processing is done before release | Negligible, module optimized to preserve battery life |
Combine Shielding and RASP for complete protection
Shielding protects your application's code, RASP defends its runtime environment on the device in real time. Combined, they protect the application from release through to execution.
Before release
Shielding hardens the final binary: the code becomes opaque, resources encrypted, tampering detectable.
On the device
RASP continuously assesses the runtime environment and responds to threats in real time, before they reach your data.
Continuously
Events reported from devices feed your strategy and refine your response policies.
Before protection comes testing
In-App Protection defends an application against external threats, but does not fix the flaws it contains. Application Security Testing detects them from the development stage, before release.
Source code analysis
Detects source code vulnerabilities, prioritizes them according to your context and speeds up their remediation.
Discover →Mobile application audit
Analyses the binary code to reveal behaviours, data leaks and trackers.
Discover →What is the difference between Shielding and RASP?+
Shielding protects the application's code: it obfuscates it before release, to prevent reverse engineering and cloning. RASP protects its execution: embedded in the application, it detects threats present on the device and responds in real time. The first secures the application's content, the second how it runs.
Do you have to choose between the two?+
No, they address different threats. Shielding alone leaves the application exposed to runtime attacks; RASP alone leaves its code open to analysis. Sensitive applications — banking, healthcare, payment — generally embed both.
Do these protections affect performance?+
Only negligibly. Shielding is a process applied when the binary is produced, with no runtime overhead. RASP is a lightweight module whose checks run in the background, with negligible impact on battery life and user experience.
Are these protections required by regulation?+
Several frameworks require them explicitly or implicitly: NIS2 and DORA for operational resilience, the Cyber Resilience Act for the security of digital products, PCI MPoC and EMV mobile for payments, OWASP MASVS for resistance to tampering. They are often a prerequisite for certification.
Do these protections collect data?+
No. Shielding requires no permissions and collects no data. RASP runs with minimal permissions and does not collect your users' data: only security events are reported, to steer your strategy.