Aarogya Setu App Puts No Personal Information of Any User at Risk, Says Modi Government After Ethical Hacker Elliot Alderson Raises Red Flag Over Security
After being alerted by a hacker of potential security issue in Aarogya Setu, the app has issued an official response and assured users that ''no personal information of any user has been at risk".
New Delhi, May 6: After being alerted by a hacker of potential security issue in Aarogya Setu, the app has issued an official response and assured users that ''no personal information of any user has been at risk". The statement was issued by the developers of the Aarogya Setu App after a French security researcher Robert Baptiste, better known as ethical hacker Elliott Alderson, pointed that it could potentially leak data of the nearly 9 crore users who have downloaded the app. French Hacker Elliot Alderson Asks Indian Government to Fix Security Issues in Aarogya Setu App, Claims Privacy of 90 Million Indians at Risk.
The government has made it compulsory for all public sector and private employees who go to offices to download the app, as also for people who are in the containment zone. The app helps users identify whether they are at risk of COVID-19 infection. It also provides significant information to people, including ways to prevent COVID-19 infection.
In response to which Elliott Alderson said 'Basically, you said, "Nothing to see here", We Will see. I will come back to you tomorrow.
Here's Elliott Alderson's response:
On Monday, he had tweeted, "A security issue has been found in your app. The privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake. Can you contact me in private,” he had Tweeted and later added, “49 minutes after this tweet, @IndianCERT and @NICMeity contacted me. The issue has been disclosed to them.”
Earlier this week, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had accused the app of being a sophisticated surveillance system while raising concerns on data security and privacy-related issues. Congress leader, Shashi Tharoor, had also asserted that mandatory download of the Aarogya Setu app “raises serious privacy and data protection questions”.
Responding to which, Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad refuted the allegations that the Aarogya Setu app is outsourced to the private sector. He had tweeted saying, "Aarogya Setu is now being appreciated globally. The App is NOT outsourced to any private operator. Mr Gandhi really high time that you stop outsourcing your tweets to your cronies who do not understand India. Daily a new lie,"
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 06, 2020 08:40 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).