Spying concerns raised over Iran's official COVID-19 detection app

guest · Mar 10, 2020

Spying concerns raised over Iran's official COVID-19 detection app
Google removes Iran's official COVID-19 detection app from the Play Store
March 9, 2020
https://www.zdnet.com/article/spying-concerns-raised-over-irans-official-covid-19-detection-app/

Google has removed today an Android app from the official Play Store that was developed by the Iranian government to test and keep track of COVID-19 (coronavirus) infections.

Before being removed from the Play Store, controversy surrounded the app [...] In hindsight of accusations, ZDNet has asked Lukas Stefanko, an Android malware researcher at ESET, to review the app for any malicious or spyware-like behavior.

"Based on the analysis of the app's APK, the app is not a malicious Trojan or spyware," Stefanko told ZDNet earlier today.
A Google spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the reasons the app was removed; however, sources familiar with Play Store policies told ZDNet the app was most likely taken down because of its misleading claims -- namely that it could detect COVID-19 infections, something that is impossible through an app.
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AC19 -- IRAN'S NATIONAL COVID-19 "DETECTION" APP
After it's release, Iran's Health Ministry sent a mass SMS message to all Iranians urging them to install the app to check potential COVID-19 symptoms.

However, the app would also request access to real-time geo-location details, which it would immediately upload to a remote backend.
TIES TO A SUSPICIOUS APP DEVELOPER
Although access to this geo-location information was requested through a legitimate permission prompt that users had to agree, it was soon discovered that the app had been developed by a company that has previously built other apps for the Iranian regime.
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According to a tweet shared today by MJ Azari Jahromi, Iran's Minister of Information and Communications Technology, the government has already collected location data points for more than four million Iranians with the help of the app.
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