None of the applications presented in this article need to be run as root; however, if you do have advanced permissions on your device, you can open the door to more interesting apps, such as the WiFinspect [23] network security tool. A network scan is performed at a far more leisurely pace than with Fing, but the tool also checks for common computer vulnerabilities by sniffing network traffic in Pcap format. Internally, admins use well-known tools such as Nmap or tcpdump.

The Function Overview in Google Play Store lists other goodies, such as the ability to test access points for unchanged, insecure default passwords.

Also attractive to security-conscious admins are vulnerability scanners, such as the pen testing app zAnti [24] (Figure 10) or Android forensics tools such as the memory analysis program Volatility or the RAM snapshot tool Lime [25]. Most of these tools only develop their full potential with root privileges.