Title: Comparative Malware Testing Analyses for Android Mobile Apps

Issue Number: Vol. 9, No. 1
Year of Publication: March - 2020
Page Numbers: 55-70
Authors: Ileana Palesi, Paolina Centonze
Journal Name: International Journal of Cyber-Security and Digital Forensics (IJCSDF)
- Hong Kong
DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.17781/P002652

Abstract:


In various malware-based cyber security research endeavors, it is not uncommon to rely on free online static and dynamic [mobile] analyzers to determine whether an application is vulnerable or holds potentially malicious code. One such malware analyzer is the Immuniweb Mobile App Security Test, which evaluates the maliciousness of a selected or given application, displays and categorizes which specific vulnerabilities, if any, are detected, displaying their threat level and offering remediation suggestions. Our proposed work is essential since we deeply analyze and prove the accuracy and the effectiveness of threat detection and remediation suggestions given by Immuniweb, which is necessary to determine its reliability and legitimacy. Our analysis compares Immuniweb against some other free online mobile analyzers and scanners by comparing calculated false negative rates before and after code remediation and quantifying the differences as percentages to determine how well these free online static and dynamic tools perform for the general consumer and/or fellow researchers. Moreover, our research allows us to visualize if certain malware types are more difficult to detect than others due to obfuscation as well as suggest code changes to improve the performance of such tools in the future.