Android malware attacks and countermeasures: Current and future directions

Smartphones are rising in popularity as well as becoming more sophisticated over recent years. This popularity coupled with the fact that smartphones contain a lot of private user data is causing a proportional rise in different malwares for the platform. In this paper we analyze and classify state-of-the-art malware techniques and their countermeasures. The paper also reports a novel method for malware development and novel attack techniques such as mobile botnets, usage pattern based attacks and repackaging attacks. The possible countermeasures are also proposed. Then a detailed analysis of one of the proposed novel malware methods is explained. Finally the paper concludes by summarizing the paper.