SwissCovid

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SwissCovid
Basic data

developer École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne , ETH Zurich
Publishing year 2020
Current  version 1.0.7 ( Android -
Google Play Store)
July 17, 2020

1.0.7 ( iOS )
July 20, 2020

operating system Android 6 or newer, iOS 13.5 or newer
category COVID-19 app
License Mozilla Public License 2.0
German speaking Yes
Others Albanian, Bosnian, English, French, Italian, Croatian, Portuguese, Romansh, Serbian, SpanishTemplate: Infobox software / maintenance / other

SwissCovid is a COVID-19 app for contact tracking in Switzerland that has been available since June 25, 2020 . Use is voluntary and free of charge, but is recommended by the Federal Council, for example , to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland .

functionality

If two active end devices with Bluetooth Low Energy stay longer than 15 minutes and closer than two meters, an encrypted code is exchanged, which is saved locally on the devices and automatically deleted after 21 days. If a person tests positive for SARS-CoV-2 and agrees to share the private key from their device, this will be sent to a server of the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) and the person will be advised to go into isolation.

The app regularly checks with the server whether there is a match between the keys received on the end device and those on the server - if they match, a notification is generated and sent informing about the contact with an infected person: it becomes a telephone number of the FOPH and recommend that you do a "coronavirus check" on the Internet if symptoms occur, or that you consult a doctor and go into voluntary quarantine.

The person who receives the report of contact with a Covid-19 will be invited to a test from day 5 after contact.

development

The app was developed in cooperation with the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne and the ETH Zurich as well as other experts. The National Cybersecurity Center has been receiving reports on security from professionals and interested parties since May 28, during the test phase. 81 reports were received, eleven of which related to the program code. No reports related to critical or systemically relevant aspects of the app. The app was initially named Next Step by the developer company Ubique . For iOS devices, Ubique provided an invite link for the Apple TestFlight program on its homepage ; The TestFlight program ends with the official start of the app.

use

The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) provides the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) with the number of active users of the "SwissCovid" app on the basis of the ordinance on the Proximity Tracing System for the SARS-CoV-2 (VPTS) coronavirus to disposal. Since June 26, 2020, the FSO has been publishing key values ​​for the app on the Internet every day, including for downloading and for "active" use. From the beginning there was a big discrepancy between downloaded and "active" apps. Their frequency is derived from how many smartphones per day the private keys uploaded to the server were downloaded to. This value has decreased somewhat recently. Since the end of July 2020, only around 57 percent of the approximately 2.2 million downloaded apps are actually used daily with great regularity.

Criticisms and Risks

Participation by Amazon CloudFront based in Germany

The use of Amazon's CloudFront Content Delivery (CDN) network, which also includes a data center in Frankfurt, is controversial. Critics believe that its use could call into question the data protection guarantees and the «Swiss» character of the application proposed by the developers.

Cyber ​​attacks

In June 2020, the cryptographer Serge Vaudenay, professor at the ETH Lausanne and Martin Vuagnoux published a critical analysis of the application and the cases of cyber attacks. In particular, they noted that it relies heavily on the exposure reporting system from Google and Apple, which is built into the Android and iOS operating systems and whose source code is not published. According to Professor Vaudeney, this is in conflict with Article 60 of the Epidemics Act (EpG), which was passed by Parliament.

Paul-Olivier Dehaye of Personaldata.io and Joel Reardon of the University of Calgary published several examples of Associated Encrypted Metadata (AEM) playback and tampering attacks via development kits (SDKs) found in benign third-party mobile applications in June 2020, the have been downloaded by the general public and have the phone's Bluetooth access authorization.

False positives

SwissCovid does not recognize whether there is a plexiglass letter between two people or whether they are wearing a mask. The app measures the distance between mobile phones, not between people.

Exclusion of seniors

Around 20% of people cannot install the app because their smartphone's operating system is older than iOS 13.5 or Android 6.0. Pro Senectute confirms: "It is probably correct that many older people do not have the appropriate devices to use the SwissCovid app." .

legislative branch

In the corona session of the federal councils at the beginning of May 2020, it was required that such a session should be based on a legal basis and be voluntary. Anyone who does not want to use an app should not experience any disadvantages or be denied services. Only technical solutions that do not store personal data centrally should also be permitted. The DP-3T app developed by the ETH Domain fulfills these conditions. On May 20, 2020, the Federal Council presented a legal basis for the tracing app with a supplement to the Epidemics Act. The National Council and Council of States passed this amendment to the law with the right of urgency in the 2020 summer session.

On May 25, 2020, the Federal Office of Public Health started the pilot phase of the app. A disclosure of the source code and further information on a public security test was announced for May 28, 2020.

In contrast to the German Corona warning app , it has a legal basis that underlines the importance of data protection and the voluntary nature of its use. The law and thus the entire SwissCovid system is limited to two years.

privacy

The data of the app stored on the end device is automatically deleted after 21 days. A motion profile via the Global Positioning System is not recorded. The data on the device is also deleted when the app is uninstalled.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Installation page for Android. In: Google Play . Retrieved June 25, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Preview page for iOS. In: App Store (iOS) . Retrieved June 25, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b c d SwissCovid app. ETH Zurich , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ Billing of medical services in connection with COVID-19 (New Corona Virus). In: Association of Swiss Doctors. August 4, 2020, accessed on August 28, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Daniel Schurter: SwissCovid is here - these are the most important questions about the official start of the tracing app. watson.ch , June 25, 2020, accessed on June 25, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Coronavirus: Federal government pays test costs, SwissCovid app starts on June 25th. admin.ch , June 25, 2020, accessed on June 25, 2020 .
  7. ↑ SwissCovid app pilot version iOS. Retrieved May 27, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Jenni Thier: SwissCovid: Is the tracing app running out of breath? , in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, online July 16, 2020, access July 19, 2020
  9. ↑ Swiss Federal Statistical Office: SwissCovid App Monitoring , continuously updated, accessed on July 18, 2020
  10. ↑ Serge Vaudenay, Martin Vuagnoux: Analysis of Swisscovid. (PDF) EPFL-LASEC, June 5, 2020, accessed on June 26, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Risque de cyberattaques sur l'application de traçage Swisscovid. Radio Télévision Suisse , June 13, 2020, accessed on June 26, 2020 (French).
  12. ^ Republic: The pragmatic purists. Retrieved June 26, 2020 .
  13. ↑ admin: SwissCovid: I download, yes or no? Eight questions and one answer. In: En24 Tech. June 25, 2020, accessed June 27, 2020 (American English).
  14. ↑ Own Analysis of SwissCovid. Retrieved June 28, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Possible weaknesses in the SwissCovid app. Swiss radio and television , June 19, 2020, accessed on June 26, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Paul-Olivier Dehaye, Joel Reardon: SwissCovid: a critical analysis of risk assessment by Swiss authorities . June 22, 2020, arxiv : 2006.10719 .
  17. ↑ Balance on day 1 of the Swiss Covid app - 150,000 downloads, critical points and good grades. Thuner Tagblatt , June 26, 2020, accessed on June 26, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Philipp Kobel: Coronavirus: This is how the new SwissCovid app works. Nau , June 26, 2020, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Philipp Kobel: Coronavirus: Seniors will soon be even more handy due to the SwissCovid app? Retrieved June 26, 2020 .
  20. ↑ 20.040 Business of the Federal Council Urgent amendment to the Epidemics Act in view of the COVID-19 crisis (proximity tracing system). In: parlament.ch. Retrieved June 19, 2020 .
  21. ↑ SwissCovid app starts the pilot phase. Retrieved May 27, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Jenni Thier: The SwissCovid app is an experiment - and we should take part. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , June 25, 2020, accessed on June 25, 2020 .