ABSTRACT
With the proliferation of mobile devices of advanced capabilities and the establishment of wireless networking standards supporting high capacity and reliable connectivity, the mobile ecosystem is increasingly becoming an extension of the traditional desktop computing paradigm. The security of the mobile ecosystem is however a challenging issue due to the wide heterogeneity in terms of platforms, operative systems, applications, and protocols, and therefore it has attracted the attention of many malicious attacks by adversaries. Mobile botnets have recently emerged as a potentially high security risk, affecting not only the infected mobile devices but also the operation of other systems and services, assuming it can be used to mount DDoS attacks. Whereas there have been research works addressing specific mobile botnets and certain aspects of their operation, systematic efforts are still lacking. In this respect, we present here our work on designing, implementing, and deploying a hybrid experimental platform that facilitates testing and experimentation with mobile botnets. The platform supports the definition, execution, and monitoring of the progress of mobile botnets experiments, as well as the analysis of the corresponding results. Such experiments are hindered nowadays by the distributed and dynamic nature of mobile botnets that make it difficult to observe their operation and act to counter the security risks that they pose. Accordingly, the platform promotes harmonized and repeatable research efforts and allows for the validation of relevant solutions to detect and analyze mobile botnets.
