Cross-Platform Evaluation of Mobile App Hardening

Abstract

In recent years, mobile devices have become more and more popular. In 2011, for the first time, more smart-phones than PCs were sold. This has also been realized by malware authors who have made great progress in developing malware for mobile platforms. At the same time, vendors of security solutions are limited by the restrictive security architecture of the mobile platforms. This master thesis will investigate in what way, these security solutions are limited and to what degree, the restrictive security measures apply to malware. One potential way for a security solution to overcome the restrictions of the platforms is not to protect the whole platform, but only processes that deal with sensitive information. This is referred to as app hardening and will be investigated concerning its applicability in a mobile environment.