Skip to main content

An Android-Based Covert Channel Framework on Wearables Using Status Bar Notifications

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Versatile Cybersecurity

Part of the book series: Advances in Information Security ((ADIS,volume 72))

Abstract

Covert channels circumvent security measures to steal sensitive data undetectable to an onlooker. Traditionally, covert channels utilize global system resources or settings to send hidden messages. This chapter introduces covert channels and focuses on a novel covert channel on Android-based Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Particularly, we were able to make a covert channel using notifications a user gets from everyday applications. The chapter will also present this covert channel by discussing the framework, evaluating the performance, and demonstrating the functionality and flexibility of the proposed model.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Al-Haiqi, A., Ismail, M., Nordin, R.: A new sensors-based covert channel on android. The Scientific World 2014 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Ambrosin, M., Conti, M., Gasti, P., Tsudik, G.: Covert ephemeral communication in named data networking. In: Proceedings of the 9th ACM Symposium on Information, Computer and Communications Security, ASIA CCS ‘14 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Caviglione, L., Gaggero, M., Lalande, J.F., Mazurczyk, W., Urbanski, M.: Seeing the unseen: Revealing mobile malware hidden communications via energy consumption and artificial intelligence. IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security 11(4), 799–810 (2016). DOI 10.1109/TIFS.2015.2510825

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Chandra, S., Lin, Z., Kundu, A., Khan, L.: Towards a systematic study of the covert channel attacks in smartphones. SECURECOMM 2014 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Comstock, J.: 1 in 5 americans owns a wearable, 1 in 10 wears them daily. Mobi Health News (2014). URL http://mobihealthnews.com/37543/pwc-1-in-5-americans/-owns-a-wearable-1-in-10-wears-them-daily/

  6. Denney, K., Uluagac, A.S., Akkaya, K., Bhansali, S.: A novel storage covert channel on wearable devices using status bar notifications. In: 2016 13th IEEE Annual Consumer Communications Networking Conference (CCNC), pp. 845–848 (2016). DOI 10.1109/CCNC.2016.7444898

    Google Scholar 

  7. Denney, K., Uluagac, A.S., Akkaya, K., Saputro, N.: Demonstration of a novel storage covert channel on android smartwatch using status bar notifications

    Google Scholar 

  8. Drucker, P.F.: Internet of Things position paper on standardization for IoT technologies (2015). URL http://www.internet-of-things-research.eu/pdf/IERC_Position_Paper_IoT_Standardization_Final.pdf

  9. Evans, D.: The Internet of Things: How the next evolution of the Internet is changing everything (2011). URL https://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/docs/innov/IoT_IBSG_0411FINAL.pdf

  10. Gasior, W., Yang, L.: Exploring covert channel in android platform. In: Cyber Security (CyberSecurity), 2012 International Conference on (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Gasior, W.C., Yang, L.: Network covert channels on the android platform. Cyber Security and Information Intelligence Research 2011 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Girling, C.G.: Covert channels in lan’s. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering SE-13(2), 292–296 (1987). DOI 10.1109/TSE.1987.233153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Lampson, B.W.: A note on the confinement problem. Communications of the ACM 16 (1973)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Marforio, C., Ritzdorf, H., Francillon, A., Capkun, S.: Analysis of the communication between colluding applications on modern smartphones. In: Proceedings of the 28th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference, pp. 51–60. ACM (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Popper, B.: Google announces over 2 billion monthly active devices on android (2017). URL https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/17/15654454/android-reaches-2-billion-monthly-active-users

  16. Radhakrishnan, S., Uluagac, A., Beyah, R.: Realizing an 802.11-based covert timing channel using off-the-shelf wireless cards. In: Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), 2013 IEEE, pp. 722–728 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Shrestha, P.L., Hempel, M., Rezaei, F., Sharif, H.: A support vector machine-based framework for detection of covert timing channels. IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing 13(2), 274–283 (2016). DOI 10.1109/TDSC.2015.2423680

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Sikder, A.K., Aksu, H., Uluagac, A.S.: 6thsense: A context-aware sensor-based attack detector for smart devices. In: 26th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 17), pp. 397–414. Vancouver, BC (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Simmons, G.J.: The prisoners’ problem and the subliminal channels. In: D. Chaum (ed.) Advances in Cryptology, pp. 51–67. Springer US (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Zander, S., Armitage, G., Branch, P.: A survey of covert channels and countermeasures in computer network protocols. IEEE Communications Surveys Tutorials 9(3), 44–57 (2007). DOI 10.1109/COMST.2007.4317620

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is partially supported by the US National Science Foundation (Awards: NSF-CAREER-CNS-1453647, NSF-1663051, REU-CNS-1461119). The views in this document are of the authors, not of the funding agencies.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kyle Denney .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Denney, K., Uluagac, A.S., Aksu, H., Akkaya, K. (2018). An Android-Based Covert Channel Framework on Wearables Using Status Bar Notifications. In: Conti, M., Somani, G., Poovendran, R. (eds) Versatile Cybersecurity. Advances in Information Security, vol 72. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97643-3_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97643-3_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97642-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97643-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics