Malware behavior patterns

Generally speaking, even though malware for mobile devices has its own nuances caused by the different environment and use cases of the targeted systems, many motivation patterns behind attacks stays the same as for PC platforms. In this section, we are going to dive deeper into various examples of mobile malware functionality and learn what methods it uses in order to achieve malevolent goals.

Now that we know how things are supposed to work, let’s take a look at how malware authors leverage them. Here, we will go through various attack stages common for the vast majority of malware, which will enable us to see these patterns in the analyzed samples and understand their purpose.

Initial access

The most common ways malware gets access to devices are the following:

• Google Play
• Third-party markets and sideloading
• Malicious ads and exploits

In the first two cases, malware authors generally rely on social engineering, tricking...