Abstract

The growth of QR codes in everyday applications simplifies accessing websites and other information without manual input. While offering convenience, QR codes can allow malicious actors to embed harmful links that are unknowingly scanned, leading to potential data theft, phishing, and other cybersecurity threats. A growing reliance on QR codes has increased exposure to possible threats, with limited methods available to verify QR code safety before scanning. To address this vulnerability, a secure QR code reader application has been developed to analyze and assess the safety of QR codes before redirecting to linked websites. The application provides alerts if a QR code links to a potentially harmful site and creates records of scanned codes to create a reference of known benign and malicious links. The application integrates with other security solutions, functioning as a supplementary protective layer without disrupting existing systems or browser extensions.