Cross-device behavioral consistency: Benchmarking and implications for effective android malware detection

Most of the proposed solutions using dynamic features for Android malware detection collect and test their systems using a single and particular data collection device, either a real device or an emulator. The results obtained using these particular devices are then generalized to any Android platfo...

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Main Authors: Alejandro Guerra-Manzanares, Martin Välbe
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-09-01
Series:Machine Learning with Applications
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666827022000561
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author Alejandro Guerra-Manzanares
Martin Välbe
author_facet Alejandro Guerra-Manzanares
Martin Välbe
author_sort Alejandro Guerra-Manzanares
collection DOAJ
description Most of the proposed solutions using dynamic features for Android malware detection collect and test their systems using a single and particular data collection device, either a real device or an emulator. The results obtained using these particular devices are then generalized to any Android platform. This extensive generalization is based on the assumption of consistent behavior of apps across devices. This study performs an extensive benchmarking of this assumption for system calls, executing Android malware and benign samples under the same conditions in 9 different collection devices, including real and virtual devices. The results indicate the existence of significant differences between real devices and emulators in system calls usage and, consequently, in the collected behavioral profiles obtained from running the same set of applications on different devices. Furthermore, the impact of these differences on machine learning-based malware detection models is evaluated. In this regard, a significant degenerative effect on the detection performance of the model is produced when data collected on different devices are used in the training and testing sets. Therefore, the empirical findings do not support the assumption of cross-device consistent behavior of Android apps when system calls are used as descriptive features.
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spelling doaj.art-76ce6ec745914d368617ca3d1909017d2022-12-22T02:18:52ZengElsevierMachine Learning with Applications2666-82702022-09-019100357Cross-device behavioral consistency: Benchmarking and implications for effective android malware detectionAlejandro Guerra-Manzanares0Martin Välbe1Corresponding author.; Department of Software Science, Tallinn University of Technology, EstoniaDepartment of Software Science, Tallinn University of Technology, EstoniaMost of the proposed solutions using dynamic features for Android malware detection collect and test their systems using a single and particular data collection device, either a real device or an emulator. The results obtained using these particular devices are then generalized to any Android platform. This extensive generalization is based on the assumption of consistent behavior of apps across devices. This study performs an extensive benchmarking of this assumption for system calls, executing Android malware and benign samples under the same conditions in 9 different collection devices, including real and virtual devices. The results indicate the existence of significant differences between real devices and emulators in system calls usage and, consequently, in the collected behavioral profiles obtained from running the same set of applications on different devices. Furthermore, the impact of these differences on machine learning-based malware detection models is evaluated. In this regard, a significant degenerative effect on the detection performance of the model is produced when data collected on different devices are used in the training and testing sets. Therefore, the empirical findings do not support the assumption of cross-device consistent behavior of Android apps when system calls are used as descriptive features.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666827022000561BenchmarkAndroid malwareMalware detectionMalware behaviorSystem callsReal device
spellingShingle Alejandro Guerra-Manzanares
Martin Välbe
Cross-device behavioral consistency: Benchmarking and implications for effective android malware detection
Machine Learning with Applications
Benchmark
Android malware
Malware detection
Malware behavior
System calls
Real device
title Cross-device behavioral consistency: Benchmarking and implications for effective android malware detection
title_full Cross-device behavioral consistency: Benchmarking and implications for effective android malware detection
title_fullStr Cross-device behavioral consistency: Benchmarking and implications for effective android malware detection
title_full_unstemmed Cross-device behavioral consistency: Benchmarking and implications for effective android malware detection
title_short Cross-device behavioral consistency: Benchmarking and implications for effective android malware detection
title_sort cross device behavioral consistency benchmarking and implications for effective android malware detection
topic Benchmark
Android malware
Malware detection
Malware behavior
System calls
Real device
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666827022000561
work_keys_str_mv AT alejandroguerramanzanares crossdevicebehavioralconsistencybenchmarkingandimplicationsforeffectiveandroidmalwaredetection
AT martinvalbe crossdevicebehavioralconsistencybenchmarkingandimplicationsforeffectiveandroidmalwaredetection