Wired reports on a team from Georgia Tech that has designed software that acts as an overlay on Android smartphones’ communication applications, encrypting communications to and from those apps, while mimicking their user interface.
The researchers describe the technology as a “transparent window” over apps that prevents unencrypted messages from leaving the user’s device.
“The window acts as a proxy between the user and the app. But the beauty of it is that users feel like they’re interacting with the original app without much, if any, change,” says Wenke Lee, the Georgia Tech professor who led the developers. “Our goal is to make security that’s as easy as air. You just breathe and don’t even think about it.”
The researchers call their prototype Mimesis Aegis, or M-Aegis, Latin for “mimicry shield.” They plan to present their research at the Usenix Security conference this week.
Read more via Wired: This Android Shield Could Encrypt Apps So Invisibly You Forget It’s There | Gadget Lab | WIRED.