title: Xamarin App secure web server login
body: <p>I am quite new to the world of Xamarin and mobile development, but have been asked to create a simple cross-platform mobile app which is able to log into a secure web server, download some SQL data and then display it in the app.</p>
  
  <p>What I am trying to understand is how to get the mobile app to request the data from my web server securly. I've seen and read a lot of information about requesting data from a web server using HttpWebRequest, but none of the examples describe how to secure this data. Also I see a lot of info about creating a REST API, but again I am not sure if thats the way I need to go?</p>
  
  <p>Can anyone give me a really simple breakdown of the steps I will need to implement in order to achieve this? I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of web technologies and not sure which way to swim :)</p>
  
  <p>I will be using IIS as the database and the Xamarin App will need to run on both iOS and Android.</p>
  
  <p>Any help greatly appreciated!</p>
  
  <p>Mike</p>