Hacker, govt spar over Aarogya app 'security'

NEW DELHI: A second round of indirect but sharp exchange between ethical hacker Elliot Alderson and government officials took place over security and privacy issues on Wednesday.
After the developers of India's contact tracing application, Aarogya Setu, countered the hacker's claims of a "security issue", Alderson posted a blog titled "Aarogya Setu: The story of a failure", on Medium and issued several tweets, including a video, to "prove" that app is not secure. Alderson claimed that he was "able to see if someone was sick at the PMO office or the Indian parliament." "I was able to see if someone was sick in a specific house if I wanted," he wrote.
Government sources rejected his latest claims saying they would not like to engage with a person who is seeking publicity. "We are at war against a virus. There is no time to deal with such claims," an official told TOI . He pointed out that Android phones have a feature which allows location spoofing. "The Aarogya Setu app is a tool to save lives. It has been developed by the best minds in India and is absolutely safe," he said. Aarogya Setu's verified Twitter handle on Wednesday posted a statement, confirming that an ethical hacker had approached them, but said that "no personal information of any user has been proven to be at risk."