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Forensic Analysis of Third-Party Cloud Software Development Kits for Android Apps

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Advances in Digital Forensics XX (DigitalForensics 2024)

Part of the book series: IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology ((IFIPAICT,volume 724))

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Abstract

Android software development kits for cloud storage are commonly adopted by the app development community and countless apps from productivity tools to media-sharing platforms currently incorporate the kits. The popularity can be attributed to their ability to offer scalable and reliable cloud storage apps, reducing the need for on-device storage and ensuring data accessibility across devices. However, because the apps tend to store user information in the cloud, there are concerns about security risks and sensitive information leakage.

This chapter presents the results of a forensic analysis of 11 major Android cloud software development kits and 120 real-world apps that leverage the kits for data storage. The analysis revealed that 103 apps store user account information, including name, email, date of birth and profile picture, 77 apps access and store user media files and user preferences and settings in the cloud, and 12 apps track the last used times of other installed apps. Android software development kits for cloud storage are of great value in mobile device forensics because they support the extraction of diverse and novel types of evidence, including via uniform resource locators.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA

    Chen Shi & Yong Guan

Authors
  1. Chen Shi
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  2. Yong Guan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yong Guan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA

    Elizabeth Kurkowski

  2. University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, USA

    Sujeet Shenoi

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Shi, C., Guan, Y. (2025). Forensic Analysis of Third-Party Cloud Software Development Kits for Android Apps. In: Kurkowski, E., Shenoi, S. (eds) Advances in Digital Forensics XX. DigitalForensics 2024. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 724. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71025-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71025-4_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-71024-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-71025-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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