A Bangalore-based software engineer has hacked Aarogya Setu, which was slowly becoming mandatory in India. The engineer did not like the very idea of being forced to download the app and be under 24x7 surveillance of the government.
According to buzzfeednews report, this engineer cracked the application and skipped all the process where he had to fill in the data. He managed to bypass a page that requested personal information like name, age, gender, travel history, and COVID-19 symptoms. Moreover, requests to access Bluetooth and GPS of the phone were also shunned.
By doing all this, this engineer will continue to remain safe in the world that references the app to know if you have contracted the Coronavirus or are more likely to be infected due to getting in touch with an COVID-19 patient. So, if the individual is safe a green badge will appear on the app — this is exactly what appears in this engineer’s Aarogya Setu application.
It is unlikely that this engineer is the only one who is using this application. Moreover, he has shared the cracked application with his close friends. Other than this engineer, there will be others who will be trying to crack the application.
This report comes at a time when an ethical hacker Elliot Alderson had raised concerns over privacy issues of the coronavirus contact tracing app.
Initially, it was voluntary to install the application but with passing days, various authorities — right from the central government to local bodies, have been attempting to make it mandatory for people.
According to the government, around 10 crore unique users have installed Aarogya Setu.
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