Privacy and usability in SMS-based G2B/B2G m-Government: STK and SMS: Balancing privacy and usability

Author

Porter, Chris

Author_Institution

Inf. Security Res. Group, Univ. Coll. London, London, UK

fYear

2011

fDate

27-29 April 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

The provision of sensitive information over SMS has been held back due to the inherent privacy problems of SMS. Sending messages as plain-text carries multiple risks. SMS encryption is one solution to this problem. However software written for specific devices might affect the User Experience (UX) while impacting existing investments. Also, using the phone´s memory as a data store provides no guarantees against intrusion attacks. A standards-based STK (SIM Toolkit) application has been adopted in order to strike a balance between usability and mobility. An 8-bit microcontroller was used as the main platform for this security application, implementing Twofish symmetric encryption to enhance privacy and confidentiality. Creating synergy between Security and Usability is a challenge, and this paper discusses the role of STK and SMS in G2B m-Government.

Keywords

cryptography; electronic messaging; telecommunication security; 8-bit microcontroller; SIM Toolkit application; SMS encryption; SMS-based G2B/B2G m-Government; symmetric encryption; Encryption; Mobile communication; Mobile handsets; Privacy; Usability; Confidentiality; Privacy; SIM Application Toolkit; SMS; Security; m-Government;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

EUROCON - International Conference on Computer as a Tool (EUROCON), 2011 IEEE

Conference_Location

Lisbon

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-7486-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/EUROCON.2011.5929225

Filename

5929225