Information Management Security Vulnerabilities in Smartphones Used by University Students: A Case Study in the Southwest of Colombia

Abstract

Currently, students who use smartphones are affected by theft and information leakage, to address this problem, this research aims to identify security vulnerabilities in these devices. In addition, an application to prevent phishing and information leakage was implemented. Effectiveness and performance tests were carried out to identify vulnerabilities and to alert users about them. The threats identified in Android smartphones used by university students in the southwest of Colombia were based on various techniques (phishing, DNS poisoning, identity theft, Man in the middle, foot-printing, spyware). To reach this result, we defined the problem, then we made a literature review, after that we defined the study population, methods, and instruments; finally, we collected the information and analyzed the results. An application was launched to show the security vulnerabilities of malicious software installation, which extracts information from student’s devices and makes the security of our mobile phones a priority nowadays; and to achieve greater security on Android smartphones. However, it is essential to be aware of the importance of self-care.