Towards a threat assessment framework for apps collusion.

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Cybersecurity
• Software Engineering

Background:

• Android's permission-based security model is insufficient to address app collusion.
• App collusion involves multiple applications collaborating for malicious purposes.
• Existing security measures do not adequately mitigate risks posed by cooperating apps.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel technique for quantifying the threat of app collusion.
• To provide a foundational step for assessing app collusion risks in the Android ecosystem.
• To enable efficient identification of potential collusion candidates among numerous apps.

Main Methods:

• Development of a technique to measure and quantify the potential for app collusion.
• Empirical analysis of a large, classified corpus of Android applications.
• Utilized a dataset comprising over 29,000 Android apps.

Main Results:

• Successfully demonstrated a method for quantifying app collusion threats.
• The proposed technique aids in identifying apps likely to engage in collusive behavior.
• Empirical analysis validated the effectiveness of the quantification method.

Conclusions:

• A quantifiable approach to app collusion threat assessment is now available.
• This method is vital for managing security risks in the vast Android app market.
• Further research can build upon this technique to enhance Android security.