Static analysis of android libraries: data leakage

Abstract

The possibility of android applications to spy on the users is real either intended or unintended. Considering that Java programs are based on large java libraries like Android SDK which must be understood to correctly reason about a program in static analysis. There is need to know its interaction with the library it uses. Analyzing these java libraries/Android libraries for each target application is highly inefficient and expensive. The study aimed at analyzing these libraries and in this case android Bluetooth library was analyzed and summaries computed. The summaries were later used to analyze randomly selected target applications for possible misuse with intention or unknowingly leaking user‟s data. For the analyzed application no possible leak was detected. The study also reviewed the current trends and developments in static analysis and proposed a new comprehensive android data leakage mitigation conceptual framework in static analysis. In this case survey of previous works and current was considered in validating the framework. Exploratory research approach was adopted for this study considering it is a tool that helps in understanding a phenomenon more and draw conclusions, lastly it helps build on what is already known or done by other researchers