Unveiling Android security testing: A Comprehensive overview of techniques, challenges, and mitigation strategies

With the rapid growth of Android applications, ensuring robust security has become a critical concern. Traditional Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) approaches, though effective across platforms, often fall short in addressing Android-specific security challenges. This paper presents a comprehensive review of security testing methods tailored to the Android ecosystem, including static and dynamic analysis, hybrid approaches, network communication testing, reverse engineering, malware detection, and permission-based assessments. Android’s open-source nature, device fragmentation, and inconsistent security policies introduce unique vulnerabilities that require specialized testing strategies. By examining current tools, methodologies, and best practices, this review identifies recurring gaps in the Android application security testing process. It highlights the need for more adaptable and thorough testing frameworks. The insights provided are valuable to developers, researchers, and security professionals aiming to strengthen Android app security. Ultimately, this work underscores the importance of tailoring security assessment practices to the evolving threat landscape of the Android platform, thereby contributing to the development of safer and more resilient applications.