Detection and Analysis of Rootkits on Android Smartphones
Anjikar, Gargee Milind · Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (University of Maryland College Park) · 2015
A rootkit is a stealthy form of malware that sits on a device and takes unauthorized administrative privileges without informing the user. Rootkits target sensitive information like GPS location, Short Message Service (SMS) services, billing information, bank account credentials, premium phone calls, e-mails, and social network credentials. Though many software packages have successfully detected rootkits on the desktop, there has been no such application that can detect rootkits on mobile devices. Android platform based rootkits are a major threat to mobile devices, tablets PCs and smart TVs. In this thesis, we aim at detecting rootkits on Android mobile phones using Android Studio's performance evaluation tools, which help in capturing and analyzing the performance of different application processes and Android system processes. By comparing the results of this analysis before and after infecting a device with a rootkit, we intend to detect the presence of the malware.