Bengaluru techie hacks COVID-19 tracking app Aarogya Setu to appear 'safe' in less than 4 hours

A French ethical hacker recently reported several privacy and security flaws in the Government of India’s coronavirus tracking app Aarogya Setu. However, the government swiftly responded to the allegations claiming that it was impossible to hack the Aarogya Setu app, a claim which has fallen flat on its back.

A Bengaluru-based software engineer has hacked the Aarogya Setu app. The programmer, who goes by the name of Jay, apparently breached the app's defences in less than four hours. Jay told BuzzFeed; “I didn’t like the fact that installing this app is slowly becoming mandatory in India. So I kept thinking of what I could personally do to avoid putting it on my phone.”

Jay managed to bypass the page that requested personal information like name, age, gender, travel history and COVID-19 symptom checker. He also managed to access the app without giving all the necessary permissions. According to the Indian government, Aarogya Setu is close to reaching the 100-million mark in terms of overall downloads.

While installing the COVID-19 tracking app is voluntary for general public, the Centre has made it mandatory for all government employees. However, the government has also encouraged private companies to use the app, which resulted in India’s leading food delivery apps forcing gig workers to install the tracking app. Police in Noida recently mandated that residents install the app or face jail time.