Android Application Security

Abstract

Android is a free, open source platform that allows any developer to submit apps to the Android Market with no restrictions. This enables hackers to pass their malicious apps to the Android Market as legitimate apps. The central issue lies at the heart of the Android permission mechanism, which is not capable of blocking malicious apps from accessing sensitive phone resources (e.g., contact info and browsing history); it either allows or disallows apps from accessing the resources requested by the app at the installation time. This chapter investigated the scope of this issue and concluded that hackers use malicious apps as attack vectors to compromise Android smartphones and steal confidential data and that no security solutions exist to combat malicious apps. The researcher suggested designing a real time monitoring application to detect and deter malicious apps from compromising users' sensitive data; such application is necessary for Android users to protect their privacy and prevent financial loss.