BLOCKCHAIN-BASED FRAMEWORK FOR MITIGATING QR CODE PHISHING ATTACKS IN FINANCIAL SYSTEMS

QR codes have become one of the most commonly used technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic in government, business, and various organizations, with significant usage in financial systems for payments, authentication, and access to digital services. QR codes are primarily used as digital links to web applications or for contactless interactions. Due to the advancing nature of technology, QR technology has developed along with various risks, one innovative instance of this risk being QR code phishing. QR code phishing attacks lead to significant and harmful consequences, including monetary loss and data breaches, affecting both individuals and organizations, particularly in banking, mobile payment systems, and online financial services. QR codes can be compromised and directed to harmful websites, causing unsuspecting individuals to end up on deceptive financial platforms. Recently studied countermeasures reveal significant shortcomings, such as dependence on trusted third parties for verification, excessive time complexity, and the failure to guarantee confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and availability concurrently within one system. Therefore, a stronger countermeasure is necessary for effectively reducing QR code phishing attacks, especially in financial environments where security and trust in transactions are vital. Thus, this research focused on creating a blockchain-based framework designed to reduce QR phishing attacks. The application developed includes a QR code generator along with a blockchain creation feature. The application safely saves created QR codes in Base64 format, along with related attributes like URLs, owner details, comments, and hash values by employing a proof-of-work system. Additional research is necessary regarding the preservation of the established blockchain within a distributed network, as this would improve real-time verification systems that can reduce QR code phishing threats in financial frameworks.