The UK is looking at deploying a tracking app and some countries have already done so.

What will happen to our data?

Multiple countries are starting to track citizens in a bid to reduce the impact of the coronavirus. Places like China, Taiwan, Israel, and Russia are implementing measures like tracking GPS and Bluetooth signals to combat COVID-19. With more countries like the UK and Germany planning similar projects, I think we should consider the privacy and security implications of utilising such technologies on a mass scale.

What will be stored and how?

The key thing to consider is what data the Government will collect. In the majority of cases, the applications so far have been using GPS tracking to see who users have been in close proximity to. TraceTogether, an app being used in Singapore has instead opted for Bluetooth. The added benefit of this is the low signal strength allows the app to more accurately measure distance from others.

The other thing the apps will need is some sort of identifier for each user – for example, a MAC address. A good idea would be to ensure these identifiers are non-specific – for example, a random string of numbers assigned to each registered device.

And where will the data be stored? Will it be encrypted in one central database or maybe the phones will store everything locally and only minimal data will be shared with other users when the person has got or been around anyone with COVID-19.

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How strict will the implementation be?

If a country spends its time and money on a potentially lifesaving app, they’ll want everyone to use it but many people won’t. What some countries have done is make this mandatory. In China, for example, the app is technically voluntary, but people must have it installed if they go into a public space or use public transport. Meanwhile, in Taiwan, the laws are so strict that a student had police turn up at his home and was threatened with arrest over text message as his phone’s battery died and he could not be tracked. The student did not even need to download anything – the Taiwanese Government used his phone signals to triangulate his last known location.

The strictness of the implementation will vary on a country-by-country basis and will be based on the impact of the coronavirus in that country but, perhaps more importantly, it will be down to the already existing tracking techniques in that country. China, being a mass-surveillance state, could get away with even more tracking, whereas a place like the UK, I can imagine a mandatory app would be met with mountains of backlash.

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Is there time to be security conscious?

Any cybersecurity professional will tell you that security should be baked directly into a product and not be considered a mere afterthought. However, this is not a typical scenario, but something designed to help reduce the impact of the marauding pandemic. With more and more deaths and infections every day, some governments may be inclined to cut corners. However, with the information and health of billions of people at stake, every move, every word, and every decision is scrutinised more than ever before. No government would want to be responsible for allowing the breach of data of most of their population to an unauthorised party so they will need to strike a balance between the speed of deployment, the amount of data collected, and the security of said data.

Closing thoughts

Make no mistake, an app that will tell us when we’ve been in contact with an infected person could have a hugely positive impact on our ability to fight the novel coronavirus. This, however, comes at the cost of giving up your data. How much data and how securely it will be stored and transmitted is down to the Government but no matter what they decide on, it will unquestionably be difficult to please everyone.

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