Data security evaluation for mobile android devices

Vast spreading of Android-based devices with embedded diverse sensors make them popular platforms for data collection in various research domains. However, Android OS complexity and vulnerabilities may facilitate sensor data manipulation and falsification that will have a high impact on data security and quality. This paper presents a data security and quality evaluation method based on a possibility assessment of malicious actions that exploit certain Android OS features and vulnerabilities as well as applications installed. It describes the Android OS architecture features related to security and major security mechanisms. The paper shows metrics chosen for data security evaluation and the developed method of their integration that computes Overall Security Evaluation Score representing sensor originated data trustworthiness level. The examples of Overall Security Evaluation Score calculation are presented and analyzed.