Detecting the Ghost Riders in Android App's Based on Declared Permissions

Abstract

Android is one of the vast developing mobile platforms. It's a Google incorporated mobile project. The concept is all about openness and it is built on the Linux kernel. Android provides a secured architecture against malicious use of the device resources, which is a sand-box environment where the developer need to request permission from the user to access those resources on the time of Application installation. Android permission model holds the key to full Android security architecture. Android permission model depends on user awareness. Nevertheless, resources provided by Android to build user awareness is hard to find. Ineffective permission warning system, no proper documentation and false sense of security on Google play store applications, users are misled and tend to install any application without reviewing or understanding the permissions requested. The proposed model "Ghost" is built to identify application vulnerability based on permissions declared and the benefit of the application. This is a leaning model. More the applications it learns, it gives accurate identifications of malicious applications. "Ghost" also is a user awareness building model. Even though user blindly accept and install an application to the device, "Ghost" will detect and identify security concerns that the application may pose before the first run of the application. With use of the "Ghost" model, a test application "Ghost Alert" was developed and analyzed test results.