V. Malele, and K. Mphsane,

“Safeguarding Mobile Users from Violation by Third-party Apps”,

Latin-American Journal of Computing (LAJC), vol. 12, no. 1, 2025.

Safeguarding Mobile

Users from Violation by

Third-party Apps

ARTICLE HISTORY

Received 17 September 2024

Accepted 23 October 2024

Vusumuzi Malele

Unit for Data Science and Computing School of Computer

Science and Information Systems Vaal Campus, North-West

University

Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

vusi.malele@nwu.ac.za

ORCID: 0000-0001-6803-9030

Kagiso Mphasane

Unit for Data Science and Computing School of Computer

Science and Information Systems Vaal Campus, North-West

University

Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

kagisomphasane@gmail.com

ORCID: 0009-0002-3538-0608

ISSN:1390-9266 e-ISSN:1390-9134 LAJC 2025

DOI:

LATIN-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING (LAJC), Vol XII, Issue 1, January 2025

10.5281/zenodo.14448505

LATIN-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING (LAJC), Vol XII, Issue 1, January 2025

Safeguarding Mobile Users from Violation by

Third-party Apps

Vusumuzi Malele

Unit for Data Science and Computing School of Computer

Science and Information Systems

Vaal Campus, North-West University

Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

vusi.malele@nwu.ac.za

ORCID: 0000-0001-6803-9030

Kagiso Mphasane

Unit for Data Science and Computing School of Computer

Science and Information Systems

Vaal Campus, North-West University

Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

kagisomphasane@gmail.com

ORCID: 0009-0002-3538-0608

Abstract—Insecure third-party mobile applications (apps) can

have a detrimental impact on mobile users in terms of information

security and data privacy. Insufficient protection for third-party

mobile apps platforms may result in harmful installations. The

purpose of this paper was to make recommendations on guidelines

for safeguarding mobile users from violations by third-party apps.

In this regard, empirical data was collected through questionnaires

developed to determine the necessary themes that led to the

development of the recommendations. The findings showed that a

large percentage of participants were not aware of basic security

methods to safeguard themselves. Secondly, there is a need for

increased confidence in data integrity protocols, and the necessity to

ability for emphasizing strong availability controls and backup

strategies for mobile users' continuous access to services. Since the

findings align with the Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability

(CIA) triad framework, then the recommendations were made as an

implementation strategy of the CIA triad for safeguarding mobile

users against violation by third-party apps. Mobile users will benefit

immensely from the recommendations as they empower them as the

first defence against cybercrimes.

Keywords—CIA cybersecurity, third-party apps security, third-

party apps security

I. INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, mobile devices are being used widely all over

the world and the usage of mobile devices is growing

significantly. The increase signifies the level of demand for

good mobile services. Most of the latter services are provided

by third-party apps. There is a vast range of sources regarding

app stores from where users can easily install the apps. These

would include the official app stores delivered from various

platform providers, third-party stores, and a range of device

manufacturers.

In a world where the mobile application market is

constantly growing, new third-party applications (apps) and

gadgets are being developed daily. It is critical to take great

care while collecting and processing users' personal

information. However, app designers rarely consider the

suitable means for doing so, and as a result, unsafe

applications are launched. In other words, app designers must

always use secure-by-design principles.

On the other hand, most mobile users have social media

app accounts which increases the lack of security in terms of

the collection of personal user information. There are

currently a lot of social media app subscribers in South Africa.

For example, in 2023, there were 30,4 million Facebook users

in South Africa which accounted for 49.6% of its entire

population, of which 51.1% were women, the largest user

group (9,4 million) were young people from 18 to 24 years of

age [1]. Most of the app account subscribers tend to not know

the type of data used willing or unwilling by such apps.

With a growing number of users having accounts in social

media apps, mobile app users need to understand and apply

some safety protocols when engaging with third-party as well

as online apps. For example, there are concerns regarding the

misuse of data by third-party organizations [2]. Users do not

require risky permissions from third-party apps to fully

operate their mobile devices; however, 60% of third-party

apps demand risky permissions [2]. The latter is against the

users' privacy and increases the cyber-security threats that

users might encounter, thereby creating complications for the

user. On the other hand, app designers should think of secure-

by-design principles for assisting mobile users not to make a

pathway and doorway for cybercriminals.

Cybercriminals may employ smart mobile devices as an

attack tactic. Unsurprisingly, smart mobile device users

underestimated the value of their collective identities to

thieves and how these can be sold [3]. Cybersecurity

awareness is the first defence strategy against the violation of

being bullied by third-party app providers. In this regard, it is

important to find out what mobile users understand about

privacy against third-party apps and how it could be violated

by third-party apps. Based on their understanding, what

recommendations could be made to safeguard users?

Against this background, this paper presents

recommendations for safeguarding mobile users from third-

party apps. It differs from a mere Google search as it uses

empirical data from the users. This paper uses the

Introduction, Methodology, Results and Discussion (IMRaD)

format. In this regard, the following section will be a

Methodology section, then Results and Discussion. The

conclusion is presented after discussion.

II. METHODS

The research design is the plan or structure for carrying out

research; it also specifies the strategies and methods utilized

to collect and analyze data [15]. The research design utilized

in this paper is depicted in Fig. 1. This research design

comprises three phases: (i) literature scoping – collect themes

and concepts relevant to safeguarding the mobile users, (ii)

survey – data collection and analysis phase, and (iii)

ISSN:1390-9266 e-ISSN:1390-9134 LAJC 2025

DOI:

LATIN-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING (LAJC), Vol XII, Issue 1, January 2025

10.5281/zenodo.14448505

V. Malele, and K. Mphsane,

“Safeguarding Mobile Users from Violation by Third-party Apps”,

Latin-American Journal of Computing (LAJC), vol. 12, no. 1, 2025.

recommendations – data utilization phase. In this respect,

mixed methods were adopted in this paper.

Fig. 1. The adopted research design (Source: Author)

A. Phase 1: Theme identification through literature

scoping

To understand how mobile device users understand their

devices, a literature scoping using Litmaps was conducted. A

first seed literature article was selected and inserted in

Litmaps. It generated a literature map that is illustrated in Fig.

2. The analyses of articles produced at least four themes that

aim at safeguarding the mobile device against violation by

third-party apps.

Fig. 2 produced cybersecurity themes that were relevant to

this paper. The themes were within four broader areas: (i)

governance – which looks at regulatory compliance

requirements like the privacy of sharing the identification

information; (ii) device management – which looks at how

users operate their devices especially when they interact with

third-party apps, (iii) authentication – looks at how the users

access their apps; and (iv) data handling – looks at how users

protect, keep and make data available always when they need

it.

Fig. 2. A Litmap seed article for cybersecurity for safeguarding the user

(Source: [5])

Using the CIA triad framework, questions of the

questionnaire were designed from different reviewed

literature [6–13]. Based on the latter broader themes, the CIA

triad related questions were used to design the questionnaire

as illustrated in Table 1 to Table 4.

TABLE I. GOVERNANCE QUESTIONNAIRE

Themes

CIA Triad

Questions

Governance

Confidentiality

Do you know what are security

features of your mobile device

through reading its user manual?

Before downloading any app do

you read its policies?

Integrity

Do third-party apps force you to

read the policy or memorandum

of agreement before you use

their app?

Have you obtained any training

regarding how you mobile

device security features are?

Availability

Do you use antivirus to protect

your phone?

Do you use update third-party

apps after reading the

guidelines?

TABLE II. DEVICE MANAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

Themes

CIA Triad

Questions

Device

Management

Confidentiality

Do you read and subscribe to the

mobile device security

guidelines before using the

device?

Do you read the mobile device

security guidelines when you

encounter security challenges?

Integrity

Does the mobile device have

different security settings

available to the user?

Can you locate the International

Mobile Equipment Identity

(IMEI) of your mobile device?

Availability

When you download apps do

you make sure that your device

is always powered?

Do you know more than one

device that has the same apps?

TABLE III. PRIVACY THROUGH AUTHENTICATION QUESTIONNAIRE

Themes

CIA Triad

Questions

Authentication

Confidentiality

Do you unlock your screensaver

with a PIN code or password?

Do you keep your password and

allow the system to recall it for

you?

Integrity

Do you use a Personal

identification number (PIN) to

• Theme and concept

identification

• Litmaps

Literature

scoping

• Questionnaire

distribution and

collection

• Questionannaire

analysis

Survey

• Recommendations

Evidence-based

decision making

ISSN:1390-9266 e-ISSN:1390-9134 LAJC 2025

DOI:

LATIN-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING (LAJC), Vol XII, Issue 1, January 2025

10.5281/zenodo.14448505

LATIN-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING (LAJC), Vol XII, Issue 1, January 2025

unlock your Subscriber Identity

Module (SIM)?

Do you use a PIN/password or

biometric identification to gain

access to your mobile device?

Availability

Do you change your password

when prompt to do so or at

certain time interval?

Do you save or write your

passwords somewhere else to

make sure if you lost, you could

withdraw it.

TABLE IV. DATA HANDLING QUESTIONNAIRE

Themes

CIA Triad

Questions

Data

Handling

Confidentiality

Do you create a password, then

lock and save your information?

Do you read the third-party app

guidelines before downloading

the app?

Integrity

Do you know what a re website

cookies?

Do you know how your data is

handled by cookies?

Availability

How often create backups of

your information?

Do you create different

protected copies of your

documents?

B. Phase 2: Empirical data through Survey

A research survey is a means of collecting data and

analyzing it into information to get insight into a specific

group of people. In this context, this study surveyed a sample

of 120 participants who were randomly drawn from a

significant study population made up of students (40),

professionals (40), and unemployed people (40). All sample

characteristics closely matched the population. Due to the

issue of the timeframe, the questionnaire was distributed in

person, and the participants were clarified about the purpose

of the questionnaire and their right of consent (i.e. participants

were given a chance to agree or disagree).

C. Phase 3: Evidence-based decision making

Research recommendations are suggestions or advice

provided to guide a study and are obtained through action-

based research or questionnaire-oriented research. They allow

decision makers or researchers to provide manageable

guidelines for achieving or solving the phrased problem.

Research implications are broader than research

recommendations.

Fig. 3 illustrates research recommendations vs the

implications. Since the article aims at using the empirical

suggestions through the collected data; then the aim of this

paper was to provide the research recommendations through

evidence-based decision making.

Fig. 3. Research recommendation vs research implications (Source: [17])

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Literature Scoping

Mobile apps are becoming an integral section of our daily

lives [16]. With increasing dependence on apps, the major

stakeholders for whom the data holds extensive value are the

app providers, advertisers, and researchers. On this matter,

through the analysis of the user data, the app providers could

easily gain insights into the users' preferences and behavior

[17].

Most studies that research mobile users’ behavior,

awareness, risk, ethics, and design use the Confidentiality,

Integrity, and Availability (CIA) triad framework [6-11].

The CIA framework was adopted for this study because it

elaborates on and strengthens mobile users’ privacy through

confidentiality, integrity, dependability and availability. In the

context of CIA, confidentiality refers to privacy of

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and the

limitation of access to classified material and protecting

private data or protection of sensible data about the users’

livelihood [11].

While integrity refers to the knowledge that data or

computing operations have not been corrupted or destroyed

[11]. Furthermore, it describes the dependability of

information and features offered by third-party apps [11].

Then, availability guarantees prompt and ongoing access to

the system data for authorized app users [10].

Encryption is vital for information security but can also

affect availability. If encryption is too strong or complex, it

can slow down data access and processing, impacting system

performance and availability.

The CIA framework will assist with a structure of

recommendations that could be utilized for the protection of

mobile users’ Personal Identification Information (PII) data

that could be accessed through mobile apps. In this context,

the CIA triad was chosen as the theoretical baseline for

examining the privacy and security risks that arise from third-

party apps.

The CIA triad study conducted by [13] on mobile users

regarding the PII showed that: (i) a large percentage of

participants were confused about using a personal

ISSN:1390-9266 e-ISSN:1390-9134 LAJC 2025

DOI:

LATIN-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING (LAJC), Vol XII, Issue 1, January 2025

10.5281/zenodo.14448505

V. Malele, and K. Mphsane,

“Safeguarding Mobile Users from Violation by Third-party Apps”,

Latin-American Journal of Computing (LAJC), vol. 12, no. 1, 2025.

identification number (PIN) or a password to access their

screen savers; (ii) participants expressed concerns about the

dependability of their data, and (iii) participants cited

instances where they questioned the correctness of their PII,

(iv) while others mentioned they suspected an unauthorized

changes.

On the other hand, some researchers felt like there should

be a move from CIA to a new theory [14]. They argue that

information security is commonly defined and modelled using

the CIA triangle; however, it is unable to deal with the quickly

evolving need for security. In this regard, they proposed that

the CIA triad should include the four layers and be called

Confidentiality, Availability, Controllability, and

Authentication (CACA). Unfortunately, CACA does not

include digital mass surveillance, and it was not clear how

CACA is used to target end users.

Although, the work by [18] explored information security

usage of but the privacy and security of users when using

third-party apps were not mentioned nor described by authors.

Furthermore, no recommendation to safeguard users was

made by [18].

The legal aspects of safeguarding mobile users against

violation of mobile apps are another important matter. The

work by [19] looked at privacy harm as a legal action caused

by negative impact to an individual due to unathorised access.

The legal solution led to the use of Privacy Enhancing

Technologies (PETs) and implementation of privacy

enhancement mechanisms (such as Fair Information Practice

Principles (FIPPs), and Code of Fair Information Practice

(CFIP)) to protect PII [19].

Interestingly, with increasing dependence on apps even

operating systems (OS) are now offering privacy and access

controls. The latter is achieved by amalgamating

authentication between users file access to give file

permissions as well as system monitoring. The work by [20]

reveals that the CIA triad fuels OS security; it is at the heart of

access control mechanisms, authentication protocols,

encryption techniques, and secure coding practices. On this

point, the OS security deals with system vulnerabilities,

malware, insider threats, software flaws, and social

engineering attacks. A protection framework has been

contributed by [21]. It uses static and dynamic analysis, in

addition to a review of privacy policy statements to improve

the mobile OS (i.e. Android) security. The analysis protects

the sensitive information for being collected by either public

or private apps.

This paper adopted the CIA Triad to develop a

questionnaire, which was then used it to collect the data. Then

analyzed the data to produce a recommendation. The latter is

summarized through the sections below.

B. Survey

The CIA triad of mobile users showed that [13]: (i) a large

percentage of participants were confused about using a

personal identification number (PIN) or a password to access

their screen savers; and (ii) participants expressed concerns

about the dependability of their data, citing instances where

they questioned the correctness or suspected unauthorized

changes. The empirical results of this study are shown in Fig.

4 to Fig. 7.

Fig. 4. Questionnaire response regarding cybersecurity governance as

applied by mobile users

The issues regarding PII as acquired by third-party

agencies beyond what is specified in the privacy and security

policy have been gradually growing [15]. This means the

growing user numbers lead to the growth, collection and

capturing of PII data, stored in large amounts through mobile

apps [18][22]. Consequently, mobile users are becoming

concerned about how mobile apps acquire PII data [22].

However, the mobile users seem not adhere to the

cybersecurity policies making them vulnerable to possible

third-party app violation.

As illustrated in Fig. 4, the majority of mobile device users

do not adhere to cybersecurity governance matters. In this

regard, they become too exposed to the possibility of being

attacked. For example, about 90% of the participants

responded that they do not read any policies when coming

them downloading third-party apps.

Fig. 5. Questionnaire responses regarding mobile device management

Fig. 5 illustrates the responses of mobile device owners in

terms of their relationship or their understanding of device

management. Most mobile devices could be used as a tool of

ISSN:1390-9266 e-ISSN:1390-9134 LAJC 2025

DOI:

LATIN-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING (LAJC), Vol XII, Issue 1, January 2025

10.5281/zenodo.14448505

LATIN-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING (LAJC), Vol XII, Issue 1, January 2025

attack for cybercriminals. Unsurprisingly, mobile device users

in the survey underestimated the value of their understanding

of their device. For example, 85% of the participants

responded that they do not read their devices guiding

documents or manuals to enhance their stand of protecting the

device. Furthermore, 73% of participants responded that they

own more than two mobile phones for other people not to have

their numbers, instead of blocking unwanted users.

Fig. 6 indicates that the majority of participants understand

the authentication management in protecting their mobile

devices. The authentication to access the mobile device is a

must through a password. In alignment to Fig.7, most

participants use a password to protect their documents.

Unfortunately, the majority of users save their passwords on

the device and allow the system to recall the password for

them. The latter is a privacy thread as anybody who could

access their password might use their PII and other privacy

information.

Fig. 6. Questionnaire responses regarding privacy through authentication

Fig. 7 illustrates how most mobile users handle issues

relating to their data. Most participants have a redundancy

plan to try and secure their data. In this regard, if one data set

fails the original data could be available for re-used.

Unfortunately, 51% users do not know what website cookies

are; while 65% do not even know how cookies handle or use

their data. Furthermore, most participants indicated that they

do not read third-party app guidelines. The latter makes them

vulnerable to third-party app organizations.

Fig. 7. Questionnaire responses regarding data handling

In general, most of the participants violated the CIA triad

when coming to not using antivirus, backing their data and

storing passwords in their same phones. The latter increases

the chances of being vulnerable to violation by third party

apps because their data is not secured. In this context, the

following recommendations are contributed:

• Adhere to privacy policies and device management

document – This can be done by providing the users

with clear guidance on setting strong passwords,

staying away from suspicious links and downloads,

and using lock screen protection.

• Read about privacy and cybersecurity awareness and

policies – awareness enhances a security-conscious

culture among people. It helps minimize the human

factor in security breaches and encourages people to be

aware of their situation.

• Promote and practice privacy – user should promote,

and practice promote privacy to avoid data leakage and

superfluous permissions which could result in the

release of personal information. While some of the

flaws may be related to the system liberty, portability,

and ease of use.

• Never rely of third-party apps for privacy and security

guidance – Third-party tools should make sure that

their data gathering policies are transparent to users.

However, users should have more insight in reading

the third-party application.

• Implement strong authentication and authorization –

Implementation of strong authentication and

authorization mechanisms is vital in hindering the

unlawful access to the data in an app and its

functionalities. The use of OAuth 2.0 and OpenID

Connect is essential in ensuring secure authorization

and therefore its implementation would ensure mobile

security.

• Participate in user Education – although there was

widespread knowledge of the importance of security

measures with respect to password protection;

however, users should be taught the best security

practices and the possible risks related to mobile app

usage.

IV. C

ONCLUSION

The rise of third-party apps raises concerns about privacy

and security. This study employed the CIA triad theoretical

framework to investigate and assess privacy issues related to

third-party mobile applications that collect and share personal

data from mobile users, with or without their agreement or

understanding.

Mobile device users should be aware of how third-party

apps acquire personal information. Furthermore, issues

awareness regarding cybersecurity should not be ignored and

it should always be emphasized when users purchase the

devices.

The major goal of this paper was to collect empirical data

from users and use it to assist in making the recommendation

that could safeguard the mobile device users. Future studies

will look at testing and validating these recommendations.

ISSN:1390-9266 e-ISSN:1390-9134 LAJC 2025

DOI:

LATIN-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING (LAJC), Vol XII, Issue 1, January 2025

10.5281/zenodo.14448505

V. Malele, and K. Mphsane,

“Safeguarding Mobile Users from Violation by Third-party Apps”,

Latin-American Journal of Computing (LAJC), vol. 12, no. 1, 2025.

EFERENCES

[1] Napoleoncat statistics. https://napoleoncat.com/stats/facebook-users-

in-south_africa/2023/12/

[2] T. Michael. Data privacy and security: Why mobile apps are the new

weak link. Infosecurity Magazine. 2019. https://www.infosecurity-

magazine.com/next-gen-infosec/privacy-mobile-apps-weak-link-1-1/

[3] K. O'Loughlin, M. Neary, E.C. Adkins, S.M. Schueller. Reviewing the

data security and privacy policies of mobile apps for depression.

Internet interventions, 15, pp.110-115, 2019.

[4] A. Nair. Research Recommendations – Guiding policy-makers for

evidence-based decision making. Enago. 2024

https://www.enago.com/academy/recommendation-in-research/

[5] J. Moreno, M. Serrano, E. Fernández-Medina. Main issues in big data

security. Future Internet, 8(3), pp.44, 2016.

https://doi.org/10.3390/fi8030044

[6] M. Talal, A.A. Zaidan, B.B. Zaidan, O.S. Albahri, M.A. Alsalem, A.S.

Albahri, A.H. Alamoodi, M.L.M. Kiah, F.M. Jumaah, M. Alaa.

Comprehensive review and analysis of anti-malware apps for

smartphones. Telecommunication Systems, 72, pp.285-337, 2019.

[7] A. Mathur, G. Acar, M.J. Friedman, E. Lucherini, J. Mayer, M. Chetty,

A. Narayanan. Dark patterns at scale: Findings from a crawl of 11K

shopping websites. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer

Interaction, 3(CSCW), pp.1-32, 2019.

[8] P. Maroufkhani, R. Wagner, W.K. Wan Ismail, M.B. Baroto, M.

Nourani. Big data analytics and firm performance: A systematic

review. Information, 10(7), p.226, 2019.

[9] W.P. Wong, H.C. Tan, K.H. Tan, M.L. Tseng. Human factors in

information leakage: mitigation strategies for information sharing

integrity. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 119(6), pp.1242-

1267, 2019.

[10] B. Awojobi, J. Ding. Data Security and Privacy. Cybersecurity for

Information Professionals: Concepts and Applications, 291, 2020.

[11] C. Tode. 5 legal issues that could impede mobile marketing’s progress.

Marketing Dive, 2023. Available at:

https://www.marketingdive.com/ex/mobilemarketer/cms/news/legal-

privacy/10035.html.

[12] M. Christian. Information security and privacy in a digital world: A

human challenge. TUprints TU Darmstadt publication service, 2022.

TUprints. https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/21138/

[13] L. Yin, B. Fang, Y. Guo, Z. Sun, Z. Tian. Hierarchically defining the

Internet of Things security: From CIA to CACA. International Journal

of Distributed Sensor Networks, 16(1), 2020.

[14] C.K. Yee, M.F. Zolkipli. Review on Confidentiality, Integrity, and

Availability in Information Security. Journal of ICT in Education, 8(2),

pp.34-42, 2021.

[15] I. Yaqoob, I.A.T. Hashem, A. Gani, S. Mokhtar, E. Ahmed, N.B.

Anuar, A.V. Vasilakos. Big data: From beginning to future

[16] W. J. Gordon, A. Landman, H. Zhang, D.W. Bates. Beyond validation:

getting health apps into clinical practice. NPJ digital medicine, 3(1),

pp.14, 2020.

[17] M. Talal, A.A. Zaidan, B.B. Zaidan, O.S. Albahri, M.A. Alsalem, A.S.

Albahri, A.H. Alamoodi, M.L.M. Kiah, F.M. Jumaah, M. Alaa.

Comprehensive review and analysis of anti-malware apps for

smartphones. Telecommunication Systems, 72, pp.285-337, 2019.

[18] D. Trabucchi, T. Buganza, E. Pellizzoni. Give Away Your Digital

Services: Leveraging Big Data to Capture Value New models that

capture the value embedded in the data generated by digital services

may make it viable for companies to offer those services for

free. Research-Technology Management, 60(2), pp. 43-52, 2017.

https://doi.org/10.1080/08956308.2017.1276390

[19] S. Herath, H. Gelman, L. McKee. Privacy Harm and Non-Compliance

from a Legal Perspective. Journal of Cybersecurity Education,

Research and Practice, 3(2), 2023.

[20] Z.B. Akhtar. Securing Operating Systems (OS): A Comprehensive

Approach to Security with Best Practices and Techniques. International

Journal of Advanced Network, Monitoring and Controls, 9(1), pp.

[21] D. Hayes, F. Cappa, N. A. Le-Khac. An effective approach to mobile

device management: Security and privacy issues associated with

mobile applications. Digital Business, 1(1), 2020.

[22] P. Wijesekera, A. Baokar, A. Hosseini, S. Egelman, D. Wagner, K.

Beznosov. Android permissions remystified: A field study on

contextual integrity. In 24th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX

Security 15), pp. 499-514, 2015.

ISSN:1390-9266 e-ISSN:1390-9134 LAJC 2025

LATIN-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING (LAJC), Vol XII, Issue 1, January 2025

AUTHORS

Prof Vusumuzi Malele, well known as Vusi, is an Associate Professor

of Computing including Information and Communication Technology

(ICT) at the Vaal Campus of the North-West University. He holds a

Doctor of Technology (DTech) degree in Industrial Engineering from

Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). He is a senior researcher

and postgraduate supervisor. His experience spans 25 years in the

Computing and ICT ﬁelds, from being an adult schoolteacher, lecturer,

researcher, engineer, and research manager. He specializes in Artiﬁcial

Intelligence (AI), Cybersecurity, Data Science, Design Science, ICT

for Development, ICT for Society, Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial

Internet of Things (IIoT), Industrial and System Engineering, Software

Engineering, Wireless Systems and Wireless Networking.

Mr Kagiso Mphasane holds a Master of Science in Computer Science

from the School of Computer Science and Information Systems (CSIS)

at the Vaal Campus of the North-West University (NWU) as well as the

CISSP and CompTIA Security+ certiﬁcations. He is a detail-oriented

Information Technology (IT) Security Specialist with 10+ years of

experience in designing and implementing security solutions for

enterprise-level networks. His expertise spans from risk assessment,

vulnerability management, and incident response. His research

interest spans cyber-security for organizations and society especially

with the ability to identify potential security threats and mitigate

risks to protect organizational data and systems from cyberattacks;

conducted regular vulnerability assessments and penetration

testing to identify and address security gaps, reducing risks by 40%,

developed and enforced security policies and procedures, ensuring

compliance with industry standards such as PCI DSS, HIPAA and

GDPR; manage incident response eorts, investigating and mitigating

cybersecurity threats, minimizing system downtime; monitor network

trac and conducted real-time threat detection, preventing multiple

cyberattacks and unauthorized access attempts.

Vusumuzi Malele

Kagiso Mphasane

V. Malele, and K. Mphsane,

“Safeguarding Mobile Users from Violation by Third-party Apps”,

Latin-American Journal of Computing (LAJC), vol. 12, no. 1, 2025.