| Author: | Ervin Oro |
|---|---|
| Tutor: | Jorden Whitefield |
| Keywords: | Collusion, Android security, Mobile security |
As people increasingly rely on their smartphones, both the number and complexity of malware attacks against Android are growing. While defending Android is an active area of research, a number of threats, e.g., app collusion, still cannot be reliably detected nor defended against. App collusion is a secret collaboration between apps with malicious intentions. This report surveyes state-of-the-art literature discussing methods that can be used for collusion on Android, and known examples of such collusion. It also reviewes existing approaches to app collusion detection, and their limitations. Existing literature has significant shortcomings, such as outdated or uncredible claims and inconsistent definitions. Further research is required to develop feasible protections against Android app collusion, and the unified definition and criteria proposed in this report could be developed into a common framework for assisting the research community in achieveving that goal.