Estudio práctico de mecanismos de seguridad en dispositivos Android

Abstract

Android climbed up to 80 percent of the smartphone and mobile devices market share. One of the key aspects for the acceptance of a mobile OS is the security degree the user perceives from the system. In this article, we explore some of the important security mechanisms implemented in Google Android through the study of several recent vulnerabilities. Particularly, we discuss a recent security issue in WhatsApp, the dangers of connecting devices to external machines and the security of current mechanisms for access control. We describe these vulnerabilities through in-lab proof-of-concepts. The experience learned from these cases is used to propose better practices for improving the security of the system.