Android users can face the risk of downloading and installing bad applications on their devices. In fact, many applications may either hide malware, or their expected behavior do not fully follow the user's expectation. This happens because, at install-time, even if the user is warned with the potential security threat of the application, she often skips this alert message. On Android this is due to the complexity of the permission system, which may be tricky to fully understand. We propose a multi-criteria evaluation of Android applications, to help the user to easily understand the trustworthiness degree of an application, both from a security and a functional side. We validate our approach by testing it on more than 180 real applications found either on official and unofficial markets. © Springer-Verlag 2012.
A multi-criteria-based evaluation of android applications
DINI, GIANLUCA;SARACINO, ANDREA;SGANDURRA, DANIELE
2012-01-01
Abstract
Android users can face the risk of downloading and installing bad applications on their devices. In fact, many applications may either hide malware, or their expected behavior do not fully follow the user's expectation. This happens because, at install-time, even if the user is warned with the potential security threat of the application, she often skips this alert message. On Android this is due to the complexity of the permission system, which may be tricky to fully understand. We propose a multi-criteria evaluation of Android applications, to help the user to easily understand the trustworthiness degree of an application, both from a security and a functional side. We validate our approach by testing it on more than 180 real applications found either on official and unofficial markets. © Springer-Verlag 2012.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
