Information Security Attacks on Mobile Messaging Applications : Procedural and Technological Responses

In today’s digital world mobile phones have a significant impact on our day-to-day lives including the use of internet chat applications designed for smartphone users. Generally, these mobile messaging apps claim they protect the user’s information using encryption techniques. Yet, information security attacks that exploit the apps’ vulnerabilities are increasingly common. These vulnerabilities are the main gateway for hackers to access information. Considering the four most popular messaging apps, a taxonomy of attack targets of messaging applications is introduced that consists of three broad categories of attacks. Each of these categories is discussed and analyzed in order to propose several combinations of technological and procedural solutions to mitigate the vulnerabilities. Further, it is envisioned that these solutions provide the foundation for building prevention and protection mechanisms against such attacks. Full paper available at https://doi.org/10.1109/CSCI51800.2020.00053