User interaction with change of authentication and encryption key in popular instant messaging applications

Nowadays, the increasing popularity of instant messaging applications has introduced some security measures. One of these security measures is the authentication activity that users need to make. Authentication in instant messaging applications means verifying that someone is messaging with the right person. In studies conducted to date, users are not able to achieve full success in authentication activities. Therefore, in the four popular instant messaging applications, checking the authentication key and changing the authentication key and user interaction were performed in a total of 66 participants in two different groups. Participants in the first group consisted of participants who worked in the information sector and did not have information security knowledge. Participants in the second group consist of students with information security lessons. In the first phase participants were expected to compare the authentication keys. In the second stage, when the authentication key was changed, users were investigated how they evaluated this situation. According to the results obtained, it is observed that the participants may ignore the authentication process although they know that they need to authenticate.