Android Microphone Eavesdropping

Abstract

This research investigates the possibility for an Android application to record audio without the user knowing. The researcher proved this to be possible in earlier versions of Android. However, Google released Android 9.0 (Pie) and stated that with this update, apps running in the background cannot access the microphone. This broadened the scope of the research and the remainder of the time was spent attempting to circumvent this change. Through the development of a successful eavesdropping app prototype, the results revealed that the microphone can be accessed in the background of a device running Android 9.0.