A Simulation Environment for Security Evaluation of Android Applications

Detection of unauthorized disclosure is still an open problem. Taint tracking is one effective approach to detect information disclosure attacks. In this thesis, we give an overview of existing dynamic taint tracking systems for Android, discuss them an identify their shortcomings. We will present a novel solution for the identified shortcomings of existing dynamic taint tracking systems. For that purpose, we have developed a simulation environment concept called Simulacron. In Simulacron, we change the analysis paradigm of existing dynamic taint-tracking approaches and thereby improve the security level of applications for mobile devices. Instead of running the security analysis on the mobile device, we precede the security analysis in a simulation environment before the application is used on a real mobile device.