syssec_red_book

8. Security of Mobile Devicesfinancial profit. Given the importance of the problem, significant researchefforts have been invested in gaining a better understanding of the mobilemalware phenomenon. However, given the rate at which mobile malware isgrowing, it seems we are still a long way from solving the problem, and wemust hope we are not already of time.It is important to point out that understanding is not a mere academicexercise: it is of paramount importance to acquire the knowledge necessary tocharacterize a specific threat, in order to devise novel, effective, and efficienttechniques for detection and mitigation.8.1 Who Is Going to Be Affected?The consequences of infected mobile devices will affect all users alike. Smartphoneshave now become ubiquitous, and they are a constant presence inalmost every household. However, we currently lack flexible and efficient policiesto regulate private-to-enterprise bring-your-own-device (BYOD) contexts,just to give an example. How can we effectively implement evasion-resistanttechniques for information leakage detection? How can we detect, mitigate, orcontain unknown malicious behaviors?8.2 What Is Expected to Happen?Even in a non-BYOD scenario, the compromise of a smartphone can be catastrophic.Apart from breaches of user privacy (e.g., access to address books andGPS coordinates) [416], monetization through premium SMS and calls [416],and colluding malware to bypass 2-factor authentication schemes [150, 231], asnoted above, this may also ultimately turn an infected smartphone into a realmobile bot, with serious consequences (see for instance Chapter 11) [8].Although the mobile malware harvested recently on a major US cellularprovider by the research community over a 3-month period in 2012 appearsin a very limited number of devices (3,492 out of over 380 million—less than0.0009% [253]), forecasts for 2013 are not looking good. According to Lookout2013 Mobile Threat Predictions, “[...] people will purchase more than 1.2 billionmobile devices, surpassing PCs as the most common Internet access device in theworld. Mobile platforms will continue to expand at breakneck speed, as people areforecast to download over 70 billion mobile apps in 2014.” [261]. Globally, 18million Android users are expected to face malware infection during 2013,with monetization through premium SMS and calls being the predominantrevenue for cybercriminals. Moreover, during the same year mobile spam isexpected to increase, turning into a serious threat vector.60