Source: Pixabay, image processing
The Ministry of Health’s “Shield” app, which we reported with its launch, received less than a million downloads in less than a week. However, the app now suffers from a malfunction causing it to show users incorrect messages.
Incorrect messages
The Department of Health’s “Shield” app, which helps the public identify personal exposure with a Corona patient, was launched exactly one week ago. Within four days, the open-source application, developed under strict security and privacy procedures, won public trust and over a million users downloaded it.
The Ministry of Health now announces that it has received reports of several incorrect messages over the past two days. According to the spokesman’s announcement, the Ministry of Health is fixing the glitch in the exposure data, which he said also stems from the app’s expanding policy on physical proximity.
One million downloads in 4 days: That’s how the Ministry of Health’s “Corona App” was developed
The Ministry of Health explains that they are working “around the clock to fix and improve” the app and in the meantime recommend users to exercise judgment: “If you have received a report of a place and time that you have not been in, you can click the” Mistake, I was not there “button and continue your life.”
Method of operation: Cross-linking your location data with those of verified patients
The app allows users to receive an alert, which includes location and time, about possible exposure to a verified patient. The app does this by comparing the user’s location data for the last 14 days – to the routes of known verified patients. The Health Ministry ensures that the app retains information about users’ locations only on the device, and it also crosses them with the Ministry of Health’s updated epidemiological data.
Ministry of Health data on infected patients is sent hourly and intersected with the device’s location data. The ministry explains that the information file was digitally signed by a Health Ministry key before sending it. Upon receipt of the file, the signature is checked in the app to verify that the file did indeed come from the Ministry of Health, and in a proper manner, to prevent any malicious infiltration of the app as far as possible.
If and when such a match is found between the tracks, the app directs users to the Ministry of Health website so they can know what steps they should take and how to report home insulation.
Michal Kovzman
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