arXiv subjects

Collins W. Munyendo

Publications and source records attributed to Collins W. Munyendo.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Design and Evaluation of Privacy-Preserving Protocols for Agent-Facilitated Mobile Money Services in Kenya

Mobile Money (MoMo), a technology that allows users to complete financial transactions using a mobile phone without requiring a bank account, is a common method for processing financial transactions in Africa and other developing regions. Users can deposit and withdraw money with the help of human agents. During deposit and withdraw operations, know-your-customer (KYC) processes require agents to access and verify customer information such as name and ID number, which can introduce privacy and security risks. In this work, we design alternative protocols for MoMo deposits/withdrawals that protect users' privacy while enabling KYC checks by redirecting the flow of sensitive information from the agent to the MoMo provider. We evaluate the usability and efficiency of our proposed protocols in a role-play and semi-structured interview study with 32 users and 15 agents in Kenya. We find that users and agents prefer the new protocols, due in part to convenient and efficient verification using biometrics as well as better data privacy and access control. However, our study also surfaced challenges that need to be addressed before these protocols can be deployed.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2021

Strategies and Perceived Risks of Sending Sensitive Documents

People are frequently required to send documents, forms, or other materials containing sensitive data (e.g., personal information, medical records, financial data) to remote parties, sometimes without a formal procedure to do so securely. The specific transmission mechanisms end up relying on the knowledge and preferences of the parties involved. Through two online surveys ($n=60$ and $n=250$), we explore the various methods used to transmit sensitive documents, as well as the perceived risk and satisfaction with those methods. We find that users are more likely to recognize risk to data-at-rest after receipt (but not at the sender, namely, themselves). When not using an online portal provided by the recipient, participants primarily envision transmitting sensitive documents in person or via email, and have little experience using secure, privacy-preserving alternatives. Despite recognizing general risks, participants express high privacy satisfaction and convenience with actually experienced situations. These results suggest opportunities to design new solutions to promote securely sending sensitive materials, perhaps as new utilities within standard email workflows.

cs.CR↗