Date of Award

Spring 5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

William Bradley Glisson

Abstract

Virtual Reality Head Mounted Displays, also coined VR headsets, have breached barriers that held back widespread adoption and usage in the past. While covering the reasons for this large-scale spread, the idea is introduced that HMDs, which are standalone units, can become targets for malware. This work explores how applicable Android ransomware is to the Oculus Quest 2’s attack surface, due to the Quest’s usage of Android 10 as a base operating system. Existing ransomware samples are evaluated to determine an abstract definition of ransomware. This work also introduces SRS, Simple Ransomware Sample, which acts as a Proof-of-Concept, a minimum viable ransomware for testing ransomware on Android device attack surfaces. SRS is designed around the abstract ransomware definition that is derived. In addition to SRS, WannaLocker and Koler samples are used in testing. All samples are compared through execution on the Oculus Quest 2. Observed ransomware sample behavior is compared to expected behavior of each ransomware sample, as well as to the abstract ransomware definition. Ransomware sample success is evaluated based on expected behavior and the ability of the samples to execute definitional ransomware traits. The conclusion is that the Oculus Quest 2’s attack surface does contain the necessary aspects for the successful execution of ransomware.

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