My student Rubén Sanz Barrio disserted his BSc thesis

🎓 Outstanding Bachelor’s Thesis Defense

On Wednesday, December 18, 2024, my student Rubén Sanz Barrio successfully defended his Bachelor’s Thesis titled “Design of a Mobile Application for Smishing Detection Targeted at Older Adults”. His work received the highest possible grade—Outstanding (10/10) from the evaluation committee.

The project addresses a growing digital security concern: smishing—phishing attacks carried out via SMS. These types of cyber threats have seen a dramatic rise in recent years and account for a significant portion of online fraud. Unfortunately, older adults are among the most vulnerable groups, often suffering substantial financial losses. Rubén’s work tackles this issue head-on by designing a solution that not only detects smishing attempts, but does so in a way that is accessible and user-friendly for older users.

The resulting application, called “SmishingSafe”, is an innovative mobile app that operates in the background, intercepting and analyzing incoming SMS messages on the user’s device. The core of its detection mechanism is a Machine Learning model focused on analyzing the characteristics of URLs found within messages. After evaluating several algorithms, Rubén selected a Random Forest model, which achieved an 88.5% classification accuracy in identifying malicious links—crucial for alerting users before harm is done.

Beyond its technical robustness, a defining strength of Rubén’s thesis is its focus on accessibility and usability for elderly users. The application was meticulously designed to be visual, intuitive, and barrier-free, with large, high-contrast fonts, clear and simple texts, and easily tappable buttons tailored to motor and visual limitations. The user registration process was streamlined to avoid complex passwords, enabling continued use with minimal friction. Real-time alerts notify users of suspicious messages, and an easy-to-navigate interface offers access to message history and detection statistics.

Rubén Sanz Barrio’s Bachelor’s Thesis is not only an academically outstanding project but also a valuable contribution to digital inclusion and cybersecurity. His commitment to solving a real-world problem with a robust, user-centered solution is truly inspiring.