Forensic Analysis of Spy Applications in Android Devices
Shinelle Hutchinson, Ümit Karabiyik · Scholarly Commons (Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University) · 2019
Smartphones with Google's Android operating system are becoming more and more popular each year, and with this increased user base, comes increased opportunities to collect more of these users' private data. There have been several instances of malware being made available via the Google Play Store, which is one of the predominant means for users to download applications. One effective way of collecting users' private data is by using Android Spyware. In this paper, we conduct a forensic analysis of a malicious Android spyware application and present our findings. We also highlight what information the application accesses and what it does with that information. We then provide our findings on how Google's Play Protect service handles this spyware application. Lastly, we offer a simple framework that forensic investigators can follow for performing mobile application analysis.