2012-10-03 CERIAS - Defending Users Against Smartphone Apps: Techniques and Future Directions

Recorded: 10/03/2012
CERIAS Security Seminar at Purdue University

Defending Users Against Smartphone Apps: Techniques and Future Directions

William Enck, North Carolina State University

Smartphone security research has become very popular in response to the rapid, world-wide adoption of new platforms such as Android and iOS. Smartphones are characterized by their ability run third-party applications, and Android and iOS take this concept to the extreme, offering hundreds of thousands of "apps" through application markets. Thus, smartphone security research has focused on protecting users fromapps. In this talk, I will discuss the current state of smartphone research, including efforts in designing new OS protection mechanisms, as well as performing security analysis of real apps. I will offer insight into what works, what has clear limitations, and promisingdirections for future research.

William Enck is an Assistant Professor in the Department of ComputerScience at NC State University. William earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in 2011 and 2006, respectively, and his B.S. in Computer Engineering from Penn State in 2004. His research focuses primarily on security in smartphone and mobile device platforms and the challenges that arise in this new computing environment. However, he is also interested in the broader area of systems security. His previous research efforts have included OS security, hardware security, telecommunications security, network protocol security, voting systems security, and large-scale network configuration. (Visit: www.cerias.purude.edu)