The following week will mark the beginning of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and approximately 1.5 million spectators are anticipated to arrive in Qatar. In light of this, security experts are putting out a warning regarding the necessary applications that have been given by the government of Qatar.
Security experts have cautioned that the required apps that the Qatari government is requiring attendees of the World Cup to download pose a serious threat to users’ data privacy and security.
Ehteraz is an app that will be used to track COVID-19, and Hayya is an app that will be used to enter games and gain free access to Qatar’s public transportation for ticket holders. Fans who will be traveling to Qatar for the World Cup will be required to download both of these apps before they can enter the country.
According to The Register, security professionals have voiced their disapproval of the Ehteraz contact monitoring app since it enables remote access to the photographs and videos stored on the devices of its users and also makes phone calls without being requested.
In addition to this, the COVID-19 monitoring software demands that the location services remain active at all times and provides the capability for the program to read and write to the file system.
The Hayya app, which enables ticket holders to enter stadiums and use the public transportation system for free, has also generated caution from several specialists in the field. According to NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation), Hayya may be utilized to ascertain the precise location of the device, prevent it from entering sleep mode, and inspect the phone’s network connections. Hayya can be downloaded for free on Google Play.
“It is not my business to give travel advice, but personally, I would never carry my cell phone on a vacation to Qatar.” That is a comment that was made by NRK’s chief of security, Øyvind Vasaasen, in reference to the potential privacy abuses that may occur during the World Cup in Qatar.
Due to the fact that around 1.5 million fans are anticipated to visit the Gulf state during the World Cup, the possibility of data leaking could result in a significant breach of privacy.
The French body in charge of data security issues a warning to fans traveling to Qatar
According to Politico, the French data protection body CNIL has urged that fans heading to the World Cup use a “burner phone” in order to avoid the possible data and privacy violations that may be caused by the obligatory apps.
“Special care should be taken with images, videos, or digital works that could get you in trouble with respect to the legislation of the country visited,” a representative for the CNIL told Politico. “This could place you in trouble with the authorities of the nation visited.”
Qatar has already been in the spotlight ahead of the World Cup, with a number of celebrities including musicians and both former and current soccer players expressing their concerns regarding the human rights situation in the country.
Furthermore, the LGBTQ community has criticized the nation’s laws against gay sex as being discriminatory against its members after Khalid Salman, a former international footballer and ambassador for Qatar, said that homosexuality is “haram,” or forbidden, and called it “damage to the mind,” in an interview with German television station ZDF.
Earlier this week while denying rumors of her performing in the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, British pop singer Dua Lipa put forward a much more hopeful message via her Instagram account.
“I look forward to seeing Qatar when it has achieved all of the human rights obligations it made when it won the right to host the World Cup. I am very optimistic about the future of human rights in Qatar,” she stated in her Instagram story.
Read More:-
Dua Lipa Has Denied Claims That She Will Perform At The World Cup Opening Ceremony In Qatar!
Tesla Disputes That A Defect Was To Blame For A Fatal Crash In China That Was Captured On Video
