Extensibility in end-user network applications : a feature or a flaw?

Abstract

The rise in global connectivity driven by user-demand is bringing about a wave of end-user interconnectivity applications. This, coupled with the improvements in software security that have forced a shift from syntactic to semantic attacks points at an every-growing likelihood of attacks targeting the human element. Literature predicts the extensibility of applications as presenting a growing threat, but the context of this threat beyond the web-browser model, remains unclear and uncharted. This work examines the possible threat extensibility poses in this developing context of greater enduser connectivity.