COVID-19 exposure technology developed by Apple and Google is now available in 23 countries across five different continents (via Reuters). It means governments can now release contact tracing apps based on the technology in the near future.
Apple-Google COVID-19 Exposure Notification API Now Available
Announcing the release of the Exposure Notification API, Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted:
A number of provisions have been made by Apple and Google to try and balance effectiveness and user privacy.
[UK Keeps Door Open to Apple/Google Approach For Contact Tracing App]
However, some countries do not want to use the model proposed by the tech giants. For example, the UK is developing a centralized system. It is being tested on the Isle of Wight. On Tuesday, a variety of security flaws within the app were highlighted. Vanessa Teague, CEO of Thinking Cybersecurity, who investigated the apps, commented:
There can still be bugs and security vulnerabilities in either the decentralised or the centralised models. But the big difference is that a decentralised solution wouldn’t have a central server with the recent face-to-face contacts of every infected person. So there’s a much lower risk of that database being leaked or abused.