Security News > 2020 > April > EFF: Google, Apple’s Contact-Tracing System Open to Cyberattacks

Privacy advocates are urging developers to proceed with caution as they use technology released by Apple and Google to build COVID-19 contact-tracing apps - and are warning against the potential for cybercriminal use.

"The apps built on top of Apple and Google's new system will not be a 'magic bullet' techno-solution to the current state of shelter-in-place," EFF staff technologist Bennet Cyphers and director of research Gennie Gebhart said, in a post on Tuesday on the organization's blog.

The EFF's advice comes on the heels of an unprecedented step by Apple and Google to team up so that developers can build contact-tracing apps that will work across both platforms.

Another concern about the proximity-tracking system proposed by Apple and Google is that it "Leaves open the possibility that the contacts of an infected person will figure out which of the people they encountered is infected." This poses a security risk, Cyphers and Gebhart said.

To avoid some of these security issues, EFF advised developers to respect the protocol on which they're building and not try to centralize the decentralized model that Apple and Google have presented - which keeps users' data on their devices.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/google-apple-contact-tracing-system-cyberattacks/155287/