21-06-2012, 11:04 AM
Rootkits on Smart Phones: Attacks,Implications and Opportunities
[attachment=24947]
What are Rootkits
Rootkits are malware that stealthily modify operating system code and data to achieve malicious goals, and have long been a problem for desktops.
Introduction
To support the increasing complexity of software and hardware on smart phones, smart phone operating systems have evolved.
Rootkits affect the operating system, any detection mechanism must operate outside the operating system.
Spying on Conversations via GSM
The goal of this attack is to allow a remote attacker to stealthily listen into or record confidential conversations using a victim’s rootkit-infected smart phone.
Trrigering a rootkit
Placing a phone call
Social impact
Compromising Location Privacy using GPS
The goal of this attack is to compromise a victim’s location privacy by ordering the victim’s rootkit-infected smart phone to send to the remote attacker a text message with victim’s current location .
Denial of Service via Battery Exhaustion
This attack exploits power-intensive smart phone services, such as GPS and Bluetooth, to exhaust the battery on the phone. This rootkit was motivated by and is similar in its intent to a previously proposed attack that stealthily drains a smart phone’s battery by exploiting bugs in the MMS interface
VMM-based Rootkit Detection
The smart phone’s operating system
and the monitor execute in separate virtual machines (VM)
To develop a VMM based rootkit detector, a smart phone will need to support the installation of a VMM .
Conclusion
The popularityof the mobile platform has already attracted attackers, who have increasingly begun to develop and deploy viruses and worms that target these platforms.
Currently, there is no available technique
to detect rootkits on smart phones.
[attachment=24947]
What are Rootkits
Rootkits are malware that stealthily modify operating system code and data to achieve malicious goals, and have long been a problem for desktops.
Introduction
To support the increasing complexity of software and hardware on smart phones, smart phone operating systems have evolved.
Rootkits affect the operating system, any detection mechanism must operate outside the operating system.
Spying on Conversations via GSM
The goal of this attack is to allow a remote attacker to stealthily listen into or record confidential conversations using a victim’s rootkit-infected smart phone.
Trrigering a rootkit
Placing a phone call
Social impact
Compromising Location Privacy using GPS
The goal of this attack is to compromise a victim’s location privacy by ordering the victim’s rootkit-infected smart phone to send to the remote attacker a text message with victim’s current location .
Denial of Service via Battery Exhaustion
This attack exploits power-intensive smart phone services, such as GPS and Bluetooth, to exhaust the battery on the phone. This rootkit was motivated by and is similar in its intent to a previously proposed attack that stealthily drains a smart phone’s battery by exploiting bugs in the MMS interface
VMM-based Rootkit Detection
The smart phone’s operating system
and the monitor execute in separate virtual machines (VM)
To develop a VMM based rootkit detector, a smart phone will need to support the installation of a VMM .
Conclusion
The popularityof the mobile platform has already attracted attackers, who have increasingly begun to develop and deploy viruses and worms that target these platforms.
Currently, there is no available technique
to detect rootkits on smart phones.