Data privacy and safety: How secure are contact tracing Covid-19 apps?

There has been a surge in the number of coronavirus contact-tracing mobile apps worldwide. These are backed by various governments and national health authorities. Special protocols have also been developed by the two major smartphone OS vendors Apple and Google, along with the guidelines by EU. The higher adoption rate of such apps has raised many questions around the privacy of individuals’ data that the app may access, and the potential abuse of such systems. Security researchers at Check Point have flagged the following concerns about contact tracing applications:

Devices can be traced. As some contact tracing apps rely on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), devices broadcast handshake packets that facilitate identification of contact with other devices. If not implemented correctly, hackers can trace a person’s device by correlating devices and their respective identification packets.