Defending Mobile Phones from Proximity Malware

—As mobile phones increasingly become the target of propagating malware, their use of direct pair-wise communication mechanisms, such as Bluetooth and WiFi, pose considerable challenges to malware detection and mitigation. Unlike malware that propagates using the network, where the provider can employ centralized defenses, proximity malware can propagate in an entirely distributed fashion. In this paper we consider the dynamics of mobile phone malware that propagates by proximity contact, and we evaluate potential defenses against it. Defending against proximity malware is particularly challenging since it is difficult to piece together global dynamics from just pair-wise device interactions. Whereas traditional network defenses depend upon observing aggregated network activity to detect correlated or anomalous behavior, proximity malware detection must begin at the device. As a result, we explore three strategies for detecting and mitigating proximity malware that span the spectrum...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: INFOCOM
• Authors: Gjergji Zyba, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Michael Liljenstam, András Méhes, Per Johansson
• Keywords: Communications, INFOCOM 2009, Malware, Malware Detection, Proximity Malware