Android security data-dependent security policies

Android is the most widely used mobile operating system today with over 80% of market share. As the world grows more data-driven, people are storing more and more sensitive information on their smartphones, security is more important than ever. This project aims to study and to enhance Android secur...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hoang, Ngoc Hung
Other Authors: Alwen Fernanto Tiu
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62642
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author Hoang, Ngoc Hung
author2 Alwen Fernanto Tiu
author_facet Alwen Fernanto Tiu
Hoang, Ngoc Hung
author_sort Hoang, Ngoc Hung
collection NTU
description Android is the most widely used mobile operating system today with over 80% of market share. As the world grows more data-driven, people are storing more and more sensitive information on their smartphones, security is more important than ever. This project aims to study and to enhance Android security by allowing user to control sensitive data that are accessed by applications in their Android phones. The author has worked on a customized Android operating system, called LogicDroid, that was built in a research group to enhance Android security [1]. Several Inter-process communication(IPC) mechanisms that describe activity of sharing data across different types of android components are present in Android system. In LogicDroid, a security reference monitor was developed and put inside the Linux kernel to handle the IPC calls between Android application software, and manage accesses to certain resources by applications. The main purpose of the monitor is to prevent malwares from accessing functionalities that are not explicitly granted by the device owner. The security monitor can be flexibly modified to enforce different security policies depending on needs. The policy language format is based on a formal logic, called metric linear temporal logic. Before staring this project, the security monitor in LogicDroid can detect and intercept accesses to GPS location, internet connection, contact number, phone call and SMS. Since IMEI number is considered as another important resource, the LogicDroid framework is modified to intercept access to this resource. In is in fact that every mobile phone has a unique 15 digits IMEI number and based on this number, the mobile operator and other parties who have the access to this data can track usage of the mobile phone. Hence, this sensitive data should be manageable among applications that have permission to access. Additionally, LogicDroid Master application is developed in this project to provide a simple user interface to the Android device owner for handling sensitive system functionalities accessed by applications regardless to the complicated underlying monitoring framework. With the help from this application, the user is able to control accesses to certain resources, which is not supported by the Android official version. The LogicDroid framework has been implemented and tested successfully on the simulator with the added IMEI Interception feature and the LogicDroid Master application. It provides Android device owners the capability of handling accessed resources among application software. based on user practical experiences in real Android devices, more important data and resources will be considered and implemented in the future development of LogicDroid monitoring framework.
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spelling ntu-10356/626422023-03-03T20:35:12Z Android security data-dependent security policies Hoang, Ngoc Hung Alwen Fernanto Tiu School of Computer Engineering DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering Android is the most widely used mobile operating system today with over 80% of market share. As the world grows more data-driven, people are storing more and more sensitive information on their smartphones, security is more important than ever. This project aims to study and to enhance Android security by allowing user to control sensitive data that are accessed by applications in their Android phones. The author has worked on a customized Android operating system, called LogicDroid, that was built in a research group to enhance Android security [1]. Several Inter-process communication(IPC) mechanisms that describe activity of sharing data across different types of android components are present in Android system. In LogicDroid, a security reference monitor was developed and put inside the Linux kernel to handle the IPC calls between Android application software, and manage accesses to certain resources by applications. The main purpose of the monitor is to prevent malwares from accessing functionalities that are not explicitly granted by the device owner. The security monitor can be flexibly modified to enforce different security policies depending on needs. The policy language format is based on a formal logic, called metric linear temporal logic. Before staring this project, the security monitor in LogicDroid can detect and intercept accesses to GPS location, internet connection, contact number, phone call and SMS. Since IMEI number is considered as another important resource, the LogicDroid framework is modified to intercept access to this resource. In is in fact that every mobile phone has a unique 15 digits IMEI number and based on this number, the mobile operator and other parties who have the access to this data can track usage of the mobile phone. Hence, this sensitive data should be manageable among applications that have permission to access. Additionally, LogicDroid Master application is developed in this project to provide a simple user interface to the Android device owner for handling sensitive system functionalities accessed by applications regardless to the complicated underlying monitoring framework. With the help from this application, the user is able to control accesses to certain resources, which is not supported by the Android official version. The LogicDroid framework has been implemented and tested successfully on the simulator with the added IMEI Interception feature and the LogicDroid Master application. It provides Android device owners the capability of handling accessed resources among application software. based on user practical experiences in real Android devices, more important data and resources will be considered and implemented in the future development of LogicDroid monitoring framework. Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Science) 2015-04-24T04:48:44Z 2015-04-24T04:48:44Z 2015 2015 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62642 en Nanyang Technological University 42 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering
Hoang, Ngoc Hung
Android security data-dependent security policies
title Android security data-dependent security policies
title_full Android security data-dependent security policies
title_fullStr Android security data-dependent security policies
title_full_unstemmed Android security data-dependent security policies
title_short Android security data-dependent security policies
title_sort android security data dependent security policies
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62642
work_keys_str_mv AT hoangngochung androidsecuritydatadependentsecuritypolicies