Communications of the ACM
Free Tool Reveals Mobile Apps Sending Unencrypted Data
A new program can help you determine whether your mobile data is protected.
Credit: InfoWorld
The University of New Haven's Cyber Forensics Research and Education Group (UNHcFREG) has developed a program that will enable people to test whether their mobile data is protected.
Called Datapp, the program is a traffic sniffer that is similar to the network traffic analysis tool Wireshark, but much simpler. "Think of it as Wireshark with an access point for dummies," says UNHcFREG director Ibrahim Baggili.
Datapp turns a computer into a wireless access point that can connect with any type of mobile phone. The program can then display unencrypted traffic and reconstruct, for example, messages or images that are sent. The tool also logs whether a connection is HTTP or HTTPS, which signifies that a connection is encrypted. Moreover, Datapp shows on a map of the world the start and end points of the device's communications.
The program currently only works with computers running Windows 7 or 8, but UNHcFREG wants to add more features to the app.
From IDG News Service
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