The Efficacy of Anti-Malware on Android
Primary Investigator:
Marcus Thompson
Rahim Poonawala
Abstract
The Android operating system is the largest mobile operating system in the world (IDC, 2016). Android’s popularity and open nature made the platform a large target for malware. The rise of malware resulted in the rise various anti-virus solutions in the Google Play Store. The purpose of the research conducted was to determine whether popular anti-virus solutions were effective in preventing malware attacks, or ultimately ineffective security tools. The antivirus solutions tested were AVG Antivirus, Lookout Mobile Security, and Kaspersky Antivirus. Five samples of malware from different categories were selected for testing:
Andr/Generic-S: Defined by apps that install other apps to display system wide ads.
Andr/BBridge-A: An individual app (usually disguised as a game), that aggressively displays ads system –wide.
Trojan-Installer: An app disguised as a legitimate app, used to obtain personal info. (The sample used disguised itself as the Google Play Store)
Spyware(Denddroid)- Apps used to access private information. Hosts can view and take pictures on infected systems.
Spyware(Denddroid) Variant- A modified version of the previous application, to test if antivirus simply scans for code matches or is able to detect changes.