Design of SMS commanded-and-controlled and P2P-structured mobile botnets

Abstract

Botnets are one of the most serious security threats to the Internet and personal computer (PC) users. Although botnets have not yet caused major outbreaks in the mobile world, with the rapidly-growing popularity of smartphones such as Apple's iPhone and Android-based phones that store more personal data and gain more capabilities than earlier generation handsets, botnets are expected to become a severe threat to smartphones soon. In this paper, we propose the design of a mobile botnet that makes the most of mobile services and is resilient to disruption. The mobile botnet utilizes SMS messages for C&C and a P2P structure as its topology. Our simulation results demonstrate that a modified Kademlia---a structured architecture---is a better choice for the mobile botnet's topology. In addition, we discuss potential countermeasures to defend against this mobile botnet threat.