RootGuard: Protecting Rooted Android Phones

Author

Yuru Shao ; Xiapu Luo ; Chenxiong Qian

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput., Hong Kong Polytech. Univ., Hong Kong, China

Volume

47

Issue

6

fYear

2014

fDate

Jun-14

Firstpage

32

Lastpage

40

Abstract

Though popular for achieving full operation functionality, rooting Android phones opens these devices to significant security threats. RootGuard offers protection from malware with root privileges while providing user flexibility and control. The Web extra at http://youtu.be/-KMMfxOoCjg is a video demonstration of how RootGuard manages root privileges of Android apps in a flexible and robust manner. First, we use the popular root-required app Root Explorer to show the configuration and effectiveness of RootGuard policies. Then, we use DKFBootkit, a real-world malicious app that leverages root access to do evil, to show how malware attacks performed with root privileges are mitigated by RootGuard.

Keywords

Android (operating system); invasive software; smart phones; Android apps; DKFBootkit; Root Explorer; RootGuard policies; malware attacks; malware protection; root access; root-required app; rooted Android phone protection; security threats; Androids; Computer security; Malware; Servers; Smart phones; Android; RootGuard; malware; root privilege; root-management systems; security; smartphone security;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Computer

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9162

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MC.2014.163

Filename

6838907