RootGuard: Protecting Rooted Android Phones

Though popular for achieving full operation functionality, rooting Android phones opens these devices to significant security threats. RootGuard offers protection from malware with root privileges while providing user flexibility and control. The Web extra at http://youtu.be/-KMMfxOoCjg is a video demonstration of how RootGuard manages root privileges of Android apps in a flexible and robust manner. First, we use the popular root-required app Root Explorer to show the configuration and effectiveness of RootGuard policies. Then, we use DKFBootkit, a real-world malicious app that leverages root access to do evil, to show how malware attacks performed with root privileges are mitigated by RootGuard.