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Arts & Sciences
[PAST EVENT] CS Invited Talk: Automated Analysis and Testing of Mobile Software
February 20, 2015
11am
Sam Malek, George Mason University
Abstract
Mobile app markets have created a fundamental paradigm shift in the way software is delivered to consumers. In particular, by providing a medium for reaching a large consumer base at a nominal cost, app markets have made it possible for small entrepreneurs to compete against prominent software companies. At the same time, since many of the entrepreneurs do not have the resources to employ proper software engineering practices, many apps provisioned on the markets are riddled with defects that not only inconvenience the users, but also easily exploited by attackers for nefarious purposes. In this talk, I will present a combination of static and dynamic program analysis techniques aimed at detecting such defects in Android apps. I will also describe experimental evaluation of the tools realizing these techniques using real-world apps and in collaboration with the government agencies. Finally, I will conclude the talk with an outline of future research directions.
Bio
Sam Malek is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at George Mason University. Malek's general research interests are in the field of software engineering, and to date his focus has spanned the areas of software architecture, autonomic computing, and software analysis and testing. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from the Computer Science Department at the University of Southern California and his B.S. degree in Information and Computer Science from the University of California Irvine. He has received numerous awards for his research contributions, including the National Science Foundation CAREER award (2013), GMU Emerging Researcher/Scholar/Creator award (2013), and GMU Computer Science Department Outstanding Faculty Research Award (2011). He currently serves on the editorial board of the IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering and the Springer Journal of Computing.
Abstract
Mobile app markets have created a fundamental paradigm shift in the way software is delivered to consumers. In particular, by providing a medium for reaching a large consumer base at a nominal cost, app markets have made it possible for small entrepreneurs to compete against prominent software companies. At the same time, since many of the entrepreneurs do not have the resources to employ proper software engineering practices, many apps provisioned on the markets are riddled with defects that not only inconvenience the users, but also easily exploited by attackers for nefarious purposes. In this talk, I will present a combination of static and dynamic program analysis techniques aimed at detecting such defects in Android apps. I will also describe experimental evaluation of the tools realizing these techniques using real-world apps and in collaboration with the government agencies. Finally, I will conclude the talk with an outline of future research directions.
Bio
Sam Malek is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at George Mason University. Malek's general research interests are in the field of software engineering, and to date his focus has spanned the areas of software architecture, autonomic computing, and software analysis and testing. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from the Computer Science Department at the University of Southern California and his B.S. degree in Information and Computer Science from the University of California Irvine. He has received numerous awards for his research contributions, including the National Science Foundation CAREER award (2013), GMU Emerging Researcher/Scholar/Creator award (2013), and GMU Computer Science Department Outstanding Faculty Research Award (2011). He currently serves on the editorial board of the IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering and the Springer Journal of Computing.