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Enhancing Security of Android Operating System Based Phones using Quantum Key Distribution

  • Nageen Saleem,
  • Areeba Rahman,
  • Muhammad Rizwan,
  • Shahid Naseem,
  • Fahad Ahmad

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.13-7-2018.165281
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 28

Abstract

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The Android-based devices are gaining popularity now a day. With the widespread use of smartphones both in private andwork-related areas, securing these devices has become of paramount importance. These devices are prone to varioussecurity issues of malicious attacks and performance problems. Owners use their smartphones to perform tasks rangingfrom everyday communication with friends and family to the management of banking accounts and accessing sensitivework-related data. These factors, combined with limitations in administrative device control through owners and securitycritical applications, make Android-based smartphones a very attractive target for attackers and malware authors of anykind and motivation. Applications keep and manage diverse intrinsic data as well as sensitive private information such asaddress books. Smartphones enable swift and easy data exchange via 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi. Thus, personal informationstored on smartphones is prone to leakage. Up until recently, the Android Operating System’s security model hassucceeded in preventing any significant attacks by malware. This can be attributed to a lack of attack vectors which couldbe used for self-spreading infections and low sophistication of malicious applications. The research provides a distinctivesolution to the security threats being found in the Android operating system. This paper presents a data security and qualityenhancement method based on amalgamating quantum attributes into the Android operating system that could effectivelysolve the issue raised. The paper provides a proposed architecture of Quantum Key distribution being embedded within theAndroid OS to improve efficiency. However, QKD is a new technology. The research unleashes the possible ways inwhich quantum could be effectively embedded in smartphones to resolve certain data security problems. Quantum keydistribution implements the Android to guard and use in the case of a run-time kernel compromise. That is, even with afully compromised kernel, an attacker cannot read key material stored in Quantum key.

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