Cybercrime Specialization: An Exposé of a Malicious Android Obfuscation-as-a-Service

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68407700%3A21230%2F21%3A00354988" target="_blank" >RIV/68407700:21230/21:00354988 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/EuroSPW54576.2021.00029" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1109/EuroSPW54576.2021.00029</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/EuroSPW54576.2021.00029" target="_blank" >10.1109/EuroSPW54576.2021.00029</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Cybercrime Specialization: An Exposé of a Malicious Android Obfuscation-as-a-Service

Original language description

Malware authors constantly obfuscate their files and defenders regularly develop new techniques to detect them. Given this cat-and-mouse game, specialized obfuscation services have appeared in the cybercrime industry. These services allow malware authors to obfuscate their code for a fee. This study investigates an automated obfuscation-as-a-service platform for Android applications and yields unique insights on the technical difficulties and business reality of those behind such a specialized service. The service investigated was found to be average in quality, mainly using known obfuscation techniques, and generating obfuscated applications that were still detected by anti-viruses. It had a small clientele of large-scale attackers who used the service to decrease anti-virus detections of highly malicious applications, thus increasing their chances of compromising devices. Depending on the price bundles considered, operators offering the service were estimated to have made a minimum revenue ranging from USD 5,100 (conservative) to USD 61,160 (optimistic) for a six-month operation. This study illustrates that even though obfuscation-as-a-service is a market niche, taking advantage of the value added from this specialization is not effortless nor easily accessible to everyone involved in cybercrime.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

D - Article in proceedings

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10201 - Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8)

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Article name in the collection

2021 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops (EuroS&PW)

ISBN

978-1-6654-1012-0

ISSN

—

e-ISSN

—

Number of pages

14

Pages from-to

213-226

Publisher name

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Place of publication

Brighton

Event location

Vienna

Event date

Sep 6, 2021

Type of event by nationality

WRD - Celosvětová akce

UT code for WoS article

—