Security News > 2021 > April > Dutch Government Pauses Coronavirus App Over Data Leak Fears
The Dutch government has temporarily disabled its coronavirus warning app amid data privacy concerns for people who have the app installed on phones using the Android operating system.
Health Minister Hugo de Jonge announced late Wednesday that the CoronaMelder app will stop sending warnings for 48 hours while the government checks if users' data is secure.
The Dutch app uses "Exposure notification" technology developed by Google and Apple that generates random codes that can be exchanged by phones whose users are close to one another for long enough to possibly transmit the virus.
The Dutch health ministry says that it is possible for other apps on Android phones to access data about whether its user's had been infected and its contacts with other phones.
The government halted messages from the app for 48 hours to check if the leak has been fixed.
The company added that it has no indications that any data from coronavirus exposure apps was accessed inappropriately.
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