Investigating Fingerprinters and Fingerprinting-Alike Behaviour of Android Applications

Christof Ferreira Torres; H.L. Jonker

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-98989-1_4

Investigating Fingerprinters and Fingerprinting-Alike Behaviour of Android Applications

Christof Ferreira Torres, H.L. Jonker

Research Line Resilience (part of LIRS program)

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Fingerprinting of browsers has been thoroughly investigated. In contrast, mobile phone applications offer a far wider array of attributes for profiling, yet fingerprinting practices on this platform have hardly received attention. In this paper, we present the first (to our knowledge) investigation of Android libraries by commercial fingerprinters. Interestingly enough, there is a marked difference with fingerprinting desktop browsers. We did not find evidence of typical fingerprinting techniques such as canvas fingerprinting. Secondly, we searched for behaviour resembling that of commercial fingerprinters. We performed a detailed analysis of six similar libraries. Thirdly, we investigated ∼30,000 apps and found that roughly 19% of these apps is using one of the these libraries. Finally, we checked how often these libraries were used by apps subject to the Children’s
Online Privacy Protection Act (i.e. apps targeted explicitly at children), and found that these libraries were included 21 times.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Computer Security
Subtitle of host publication	23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018, Barcelona, Spain, September 3-7, 2018, Proceedings, Part II
Editors	Javier Lopez, Jianying Zhou, Miguel Soriano
Publisher	Springer
Chapter	4
Pages	60-80
Number of pages	21
Volume	11099
Edition	1
ISBN (Electronic)	9783319989891
ISBN (Print)	9783319989884
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98989-1_4
Publication status	Published - 2018
Event	23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018 - Barcelona, Spain Duration: 3 Sept 2018 → 7 Sept 2018 https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319989884

Publication series

Series	Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series

Conference

Conference	23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018
Country/Territory	Spain
City	Barcelona
Period	3/09/18 → 7/09/18
Internet address	https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319989884

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-319-98989-1_4

Cite this

Ferreira Torres, C., & Jonker, H. L. (2018). Investigating Fingerprinters and Fingerprinting-Alike Behaviour of Android Applications. In J. Lopez, J. Zhou, & M. Soriano (Eds.), Computer Security: 23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018, Barcelona, Spain, September 3-7, 2018, Proceedings, Part II (1 ed., Vol. 11099, pp. 60-80). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98989-1_4

Ferreira Torres, Christof ; Jonker, H.L. / Investigating Fingerprinters and Fingerprinting-Alike Behaviour of Android Applications. Computer Security: 23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018, Barcelona, Spain, September 3-7, 2018, Proceedings, Part II. editor / Javier Lopez ; Jianying Zhou ; Miguel Soriano. Vol. 11099 1. ed. Springer, 2018. pp. 60-80 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series).

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title = "Investigating Fingerprinters and Fingerprinting-Alike Behaviour of Android Applications",

abstract = "Fingerprinting of browsers has been thoroughly investigated. In contrast, mobile phone applications offer a far wider array of attributes for profiling, yet fingerprinting practices on this platform have hardly received attention. In this paper, we present the first (to our knowledge) investigation of Android libraries by commercial fingerprinters. Interestingly enough, there is a marked difference with fingerprinting desktop browsers. We did not find evidence of typical fingerprinting techniques such as canvas fingerprinting. Secondly, we searched for behaviour resembling that of commercial fingerprinters. We performed a detailed analysis of six similar libraries. Thirdly, we investigated ∼30,000 apps and found that roughly 19% of these apps is using one of the these libraries. Finally, we checked how often these libraries were used by apps subject to the Children{\textquoteright}sOnline Privacy Protection Act (i.e. apps targeted explicitly at children), and found that these libraries were included 21 times.",

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Ferreira Torres, C & Jonker, HL 2018, Investigating Fingerprinters and Fingerprinting-Alike Behaviour of Android Applications. in J Lopez, J Zhou & M Soriano (eds), Computer Security: 23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018, Barcelona, Spain, September 3-7, 2018, Proceedings, Part II. 1 edn, vol. 11099, Springer, Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series, pp. 60-80, 23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018, Barcelona, Spain, 3/09/18. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98989-1_4

Investigating Fingerprinters and Fingerprinting-Alike Behaviour of Android Applications. / Ferreira Torres, Christof; Jonker, H.L.
Computer Security: 23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018, Barcelona, Spain, September 3-7, 2018, Proceedings, Part II. ed. / Javier Lopez; Jianying Zhou; Miguel Soriano. Vol. 11099 1. ed. Springer, 2018. p. 60-80 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Academic › peer-review

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AB - Fingerprinting of browsers has been thoroughly investigated. In contrast, mobile phone applications offer a far wider array of attributes for profiling, yet fingerprinting practices on this platform have hardly received attention. In this paper, we present the first (to our knowledge) investigation of Android libraries by commercial fingerprinters. Interestingly enough, there is a marked difference with fingerprinting desktop browsers. We did not find evidence of typical fingerprinting techniques such as canvas fingerprinting. Secondly, we searched for behaviour resembling that of commercial fingerprinters. We performed a detailed analysis of six similar libraries. Thirdly, we investigated ∼30,000 apps and found that roughly 19% of these apps is using one of the these libraries. Finally, we checked how often these libraries were used by apps subject to the Children’sOnline Privacy Protection Act (i.e. apps targeted explicitly at children), and found that these libraries were included 21 times.

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Ferreira Torres C, Jonker HL. Investigating Fingerprinters and Fingerprinting-Alike Behaviour of Android Applications. In Lopez J, Zhou J, Soriano M, editors, Computer Security: 23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018, Barcelona, Spain, September 3-7, 2018, Proceedings, Part II. 1 ed. Vol. 11099. Springer. 2018. p. 60-80. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series). doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-98989-1_4