Data Collection and Hiding Capabilities of Android Stalkerware
Karlo Graf, Jonatan Lerga, Branka Dobraš · 2023
Inspired by the recent rise in the popularity of Android spyware, this paper touches upon the basics of a particular type of spyware called stalkerware and the various features these apps use to spy on users. The focus of this paper is to demonstrate and explain the basic data collection and hiding capabilities of stalkerware apps, as well as the drawbacks of the Android permission system. In order to analyze the hiding capabilities, a popular stalkerware app Meuspy was reverse engineered, and the hiding functions were extracted. The reverse engineering process and the obfuscation methods found were also explained. By analyzing the various functions, it becomes clear that the Android system sacrifices security for convenience and that the best short-term response to stalkerware is to educate the average user.