MobiShop: A secure Proximity based Social Networking application for the mall of Mauritius

Based on the proliferation of smartphones, a new type of social networking called Proximity based Social Networking (PBSN) was emerged based on the geo-locations of users in the vicinity. However, many concerns have been reported recently on PBSN applications where user information is intercepted and misused, specifically locations of users which are sensitive data. In this paper, a secure PBSN application called MobiShop has been designed and implemented for the largest shopping mall in Mauritius. Users can receive advertisements or coupons from shops when they are approaching those shops, buy cinema tickets and place orders in the food court using the MobiShop application. The payment is then done directly at the counters when they receive their tickets or food by using a transaction ID. Different security measures have been integrated in the application to secure the information and communication of the users. The AllJoyn framework is used to implement the discovery process and the chat system. All messages exchanged are encrypted using the RSA cryptographic algorithm and the passwords of the users are encrypted using the SHA-512 Hash algorithm. Evaluation tests have shown that MobiShop offers a secure platform for the Mauritian shoppers where integrity of the system is ensured and attacks such as man-in-the-middle attacks are prevented.