A Software Development Model for Building Security into Applications for the Android Platform

The popularity of smart phones has risen throughout the years since first introduced. With the popularity of the devices growing so too has the number of malicious applications flooding the devices’ marketplaces. With more usage there becomes a larger target for malware and exploitation creation. As threats to these devices continue to grow there is a constant need for security to safeguard against these threats. Some attempts to protect smart phones involve building software to analyze applications running on the devices. This attempt has cut back on the amount of malicious software on the marketplace. These attempts however only catch malicious applications after they have been running. This dissertation presents the Secure Android Development Model. The goal of this model is to contribute to security of these devices by having a development model that implicitly builds security into applications. The model ensures a minimal amount of open permissions thus limiting the number of attack vectors that malicious software can make on the devices. By following the model, developers will have all information available during development to make appropriate security decisions in their applications