scholarly journals The Snowden Phone: A Comparative Survey of Secure Instant Messaging Mobile Applications

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Christian Johansen ◽  
Aulon Mujaj ◽  
Hamed Arshad ◽  
Josef Noll
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Personal Communications ◽  
Security Properties ◽  
Comparative Survey ◽  
End To End ◽  
Mass Surveillance

In recent years, it has come to attention that governments have been doing mass surveillance of personal communications without the consent of the citizens. As a consequence of these revelations, developers have begun releasing new protocols for end-to-end encrypted conversations, extending and making popular the old Off-the-Record protocol. New implementations of such end-to-end encrypted messaging protocols have appeared, and several popular chat applications have been updated to use such protocols. In this survey, we compare six existing applications for end-to-end encrypted instant messaging, namely, Signal, WhatsApp, Wire, Viber, Riot, and Telegram, most of them implementing one of the recent and popular protocols called Signal. We conduct five types of experiments on each of the six applications using the same hardware setup. During these experiments, we test 21 security and usability properties specially relevant for applications (not protocols). The results of our experiments demonstrate that the applications vary in terms of the usability and security properties they provide, and none of them are perfect. In consequence, we make 12 recommendations for improvement of either security, privacy, or usability, suitable for one or more of the tested applications.

scholarly journals Encrypted Network Traffic Analysis of Secure Instant Messaging Application: A Case Study of Signal Messenger App

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 7789
Author(s):  
Asmara Afzal ◽  
Mehdi Hussain ◽  
Shahzad Saleem ◽  
M. Khuram Shahzad ◽  
Anthony T. S. Ho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Network Traffic ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
Security Services ◽  
Network Traffic Analysis ◽  
End To End ◽  
Network Forensic ◽  
Encrypted Traffic

Instant messaging applications (apps) have played a vital role in online interaction, especially under COVID-19 lockdown protocols. Apps with security provisions are able to provide confidentiality through end-to-end encryption. Ill-intentioned individuals and groups use these security services to their advantage by using the apps for criminal, illicit, or fraudulent activities. During an investigation, the provision of end-to-end encryption in apps increases the complexity for digital forensics investigators. This study aims to provide a network forensic strategy to identify the potential artifacts from the encrypted network traffic of the prominent social messenger app Signal (on Android version 9). The analysis of the installed app was conducted over fully encrypted network traffic. By adopting the proposed strategy, the forensic investigator can easily detect encrypted traffic activities such as chatting, media messages, audio, and video calls by looking at the payload patterns. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of the trace files can help to create a list of chat servers and IP addresses of involved parties in the events. As a result, the proposed strategy significantly facilitates extraction of the app’s behavior from encrypted network traffic which can then be used as supportive evidence for forensic investigation.

scholarly journals QoE Evaluation: The TRIANGLE Testbed Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Almudena Díaz Zayas ◽  
Laura Panizo ◽  
Janie Baños ◽  
Carlos Cárdenas ◽  
Michael Dieudonne
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Quality Of Experience ◽  
Quality Score ◽  
Project Approach ◽  
End To End

This paper presents the TRIANGLE testbed approach to score the Quality of Experience (QoE) of mobile applications, based on measurements extracted from tests performed on an end-to-end network testbed. The TRIANGLE project approach is a methodology flexible enough to generalize the computation of the QoE for any mobile application. The process produces a final TRIANGLE mark, a quality score, which could eventually be used to certify applications.

scholarly journals Modeling the Total Energy Consumption of Mobile Network Services and Applications

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Yan ◽  
Chien Aun Chan ◽  
André F. Gygax ◽  
Jinyao Yan ◽  
Leith Campbell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
User Behavior ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Specific Energy Consumption ◽  
Mobile Network ◽  
Network Services ◽  
Total Energy Consumption ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
End To End

Reducing the energy consumption of Internet services requires knowledge about the specific traffic and energy consumption characteristics, as well as the associated end-to-end topology and the energy consumption of each network segment. Here, we propose a shift from segment-specific to service-specific end-to-end energy-efficiency modeling to align engineering with activity-based accounting principles. We use the model to assess a range of the most popular instant messaging and video play applications to emerging augmented reality and virtual reality applications. We demonstrate how measurements can be conducted and used in service-specific end-to-end energy consumption assessments. Since the energy consumption is dependent on user behavior, we then conduct a sensitivity analysis on different usage patterns and identify the root causes of service-specific energy consumption. Our main findings show that smartphones are the main energy consumers for web browsing and instant messaging applications, whereas the LTE wireless network is the main consumer for heavy data applications such as video play, video chat and virtual reality applications. By using small cell offloading and mobile edge caching, our results show that the energy consumption of popular and emerging applications could potentially be reduced by over 80%.

scholarly journals Use of mobile applications in collocation teaching

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 1176-1190
Author(s):  
Muhammed Sayid ÖZCAN ◽  
Serhat Bahadır Kert
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Quantitative Aspect ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Experimental Group

In this study, the importance of vocabulary knowledge in language education and the use of mobile applications in the teaching of collocations are emphasized. The application of collocation was realized through a mobile instant messaging application. It has been determined that students use a mobile application in a word learning process to provide more meaningful learning than in classroom learning. In this study, which was applied to 54 people using experimental and controls grouped research design, the experimental group was given mobile cards and the control group was given word cards in the class. In quantitative aspect, the study aimed to see the difference between the academic achievements of both group. At the end of the process, an academic achievement test was applied to the students, and a significant difference was found between the groups in favor of the experimental group. In qualitative aspect, the students opinions was given on use of mobile applications in teaching vocabulary. Individual interviews were conducted with the students at the end of the process accordingly and these interviews were used in the evaluation of the process.   Keywords: Educational technology; language learning, mobile learning; teaching collocations.

scholarly journals A Systematic Evaluation of Mobile Applications for Instant Messaging on iOS Devices

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Caro-Alvaro ◽  
Eva Garcia-Lopez ◽  
Antonio Garcia-Cabot ◽  
Luis de-Marcos ◽  
Jose-Maria Gutierrez-Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Personal Computers ◽  
Mobile Platform ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
Heuristic Evaluation ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
The Future

Nowadays, instant messaging applications (apps) are one of the most popular applications for mobile devices with millions of active users. However, mobile devices present hardware and software characteristics and limitations compared with personal computers. Hence, to address the usability issues of mobile apps, a specific methodology must be conducted. This paper shows the findings from a systematic analysis of these applications on iOS mobile platform that was conducted to identify some usability issues in mobile applications for instant messaging. The overall process includes a Keystroke-Level Modeling and a Mobile Heuristic Evaluation. In the same trend, we propose a set of guidelines for improving the usability of these apps. Based on our findings, this analysis will help in the future to create more effective mobile applications for instant messaging.

scholarly journals End-to-End TCP Congestion Control for Mobile Applications

IEEE Access ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 171628-171642
Author(s):  
Haichang Huang ◽  
Zhiyang Sun ◽  
Xin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Congestion Control ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
End To End ◽  
Tcp Congestion Control

scholarly journals PENERAPAN END-TO-END ENCRYPTION DENGAN METODE SUPER ENCRYPTION UNTUK KERAHASIAAN CITRA DIGITAL PADA APLIKASI INSTANT MESSAGING

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Feri Fahrianto ◽  
Addinul Kitanggi
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Extreme Programming ◽  
Multiple Encryption ◽  
End To End

ABSTRAK Instant Messaging merupakan media komunikasi pengiriman pesan yang marak digunakan untuk saat ini sebagai pengganti telepon dan SMS. Salah satu fitur pada layanan instant messaging yang populer adalah fitur pengiriman citra digital. Ada potensi ancaman keamanan pada instant messaging berbentuk pencurian data citra digital yang dikirim melalui jaringan layanan instant messaging dan juga pencurian data pada database yang tersimpan pada server pihak ketiga. Solusiyang dapat dilakukan untuk hal ini adalah dengan menggunakan end-to-end encryption (Andre 2009). End-to-end encryption (E2EE) adalah suatu mekanisme komunikasi dimana orang yang bisa membaca pesannya hanyalah orang yang sedang berkomunikasi tersebut. Algoritma enkripsi yang digunakan dalam implementasi E2EE bisa bervariasi. Dalam penelitian ini algoritma enkripsi yangdigunakan adalah super encryption dengan menggabungkan playfair cipher dengan Vigenere cipher yangcukup efektif untuk digunakan pada mobile phones (Setyaningsih et al. 2012). Untuk itu, penulis merancang dan membangung aplikasi instant messaging yang dapat berjalan pada platform mobile Android yang dapat mengenkripsi dan mengirim citra digital yang berguna untuk meningkatkan keamanan pada layananinstant messaging.  Kata Kunci:instant messaging, end-to-end encryption, super encryption, multiple encryption, vigenere cipher, playfair cipher, extreme programming

scholarly journals The Relevance of Mobile Applications in the Learning of Physical Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 329
Author(s):  
Lilyan Vega-Ramírez ◽  
Rubén Olmedilla Notario ◽  
María Alejandra Ávalos-Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Mobile Telephony ◽  
Educational Tool ◽  
Sports Activity ◽  
Degree Of Satisfaction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Telephone Calls ◽  
Educational Field

Mobile telephony has developed exponentially, offering a multitude of services that could be optimal for the educational field of physical and sports activity (PSA). The objective of this research was to analyze the use of smartphone by 40 Spanish teenagers and assess the degree of satisfaction of the Polar Beat application within the subject of physical education in high school. The instruments used were two quantitative questionnaires and the data were analyzed with the statistical package SPSS 24.0. The teenagers recognized that they use the smartphone for instant messaging, telephone calls and downloads of games and tunes. The Polar Beat application in physical education classes has allowed them a better understanding of the content developed; the students affirmed that their motivation towards PSA increased with the knowledge and use of the Polar Beat app and that smartphones are innovative and effective tools. With all this, the mobile phone could be an educational tool that awakens interest in teenagers and teachers.

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