Data in Aarogya Setu app is not safe, claims hacker

Robert Baptiste, a French security researcher who runs a Twitter account under the name Elliot Alderson, claims that the Aarogya Setu app contains a “security loophole”, a problem that has put the privacy of millions of Indians at stake. Is. The researcher tweeted on Tuesday to inform the government and his over 1.67 lakh followers about an alleged security issue in the government’s contact tracing app. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the National Informatics Center (NIC) immediately contacted the researcher to understand the problem. However, the team that created the Arogya Setu app refuted the claim made by the researcher.

Without clarifying the security loophole, the researcher said on Tuesday Tweet By informing the Arogya Setu app about this. Tagging the official account of Aarogya Setu on Twitter, the researcher wrote (translated) “The privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake. Can you contact me privately?”.

The researcher also included a postscript in his tweet, saying that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was right. Let us tell you that Rahut Gandhi last week claimed was that the Aarogya Setu app is a “surveillance system” which raises concerns of “data security and privacy”. He also said that the app has been outsourced to a private operator.

Within 49 minutes after his initial tweet, the researcher Said That he was contacted by CERT-In and NIC teams and informed that the issue has been disclosed.

This app has been downloaded the most in India by breaking records. The app has been downloaded millions of times across India within days of its launch. However, since its launch, groups like Software Freedom Law Centre, India (SFLC.in) and Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) have started criticizing it. But this does not seem to have any impact on the app. So much so that this app has now been made essential in offices. Recently, the police in Noida has also made the use of this app mandatory.

The team of Arogya Setu App shared with the researcher through a tweet on Wednesday. Contact accepted. However, the team has not yet shared any information regarding the alleged security issue and has even denied the alleged security issue.