Google and Apple Are Testing US Contact Tracing Apps

Google and Apple Are Testing US Contact Tracing Apps

According to Google, 20 US states and territories are testing contact tracing apps for the Coronavirus. The apps were developed using tools created by Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, with Apple Inc.
The US would be one of the 17 countries and regions that had launched apps using Google and Apple’s contact tracing toolkit. The countries include Canada, Northern Ireland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Uruguay, and many more.
How the Tracing App Works
The technology developed by Google and Apple uses Bluetooth signals to track the user’s encounters with other people. The application would notify contacts if the user has been infected with the Coronavirus.
Google had previously announced in May that Alabama, North Dakota, and South Carolina would be the first three states to launch the apps. However, lawmakers had halted the launch.
Last Friday, Google said the first apps would be released soon but did not name any state. It also announced that after the partnership with Apple the corporations have enabled apps that check users even when they go to other states or countries.
The announcement coincided with the launch of Northern Ireland’s app which can check users in Ireland, making it the first to enable tracing across borders. The UK has also announced its switch to an app based on the Apple-Google tool, leaving behind its National Health Service (NHS) contact-tracing app. The former is favored because it allows for more anonymity and privacy.
Is Tracing Effective?
Countries like Germany and Ireland, which have been using contact tracing apps, have praised its success. However, it is still unclear whether the app is effective in warning people that could be infected with the Coronavirus.
Privacy is another concern regarding the use of tracing apps. On the other hand, apps that are designed to protect the user’s privacy have a downside. It is impossible to gauge its effectiveness.
Furthermore, experts say that for a smartphone-based contact tracing app to work, at least 60% of the population has to use it. Ensuring that everyone adopts it is difficult.
In Singapore, one of the first countries that employed a phone-based contact tracing app, only about 20% of people use it since its launch in March. The country, which has a population of 5 million, still saw a spike in Covid-19 cases. It would be more challenging to apply a similar measure in the US which has more than 331 million people.
 

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Three People Arrested for Twitter Hack Including Troubled Florida Teen

Twitter Hack

Three people have been arrested for the Twitter hack on July 15, 2020. The hackers took over various verified accounts. The accounts of former US President Barack Obama, Tesla owner Elon Musk, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, and companies such as Apple and Coinbase were seen promoting a Bitcoin scam.
17-year-old Graham Clark from Tampa, Florida was arrested on July 31. Shortly after, 22-year-old Nima Fazeli from Orlando and 19-year-old Mason Sheppard from the UK were also taken into custody.
Largest Twitter Security Breach
The hackers’ actions were the largest security and privacy breach in Twitter so far. While three people have been arrested, authorities believe that Clark was the one who carried out the scam.
Clark used social engineering to pretend to work in the company’s IT department. He managed to trick a Twitter employee into giving him credentials to access Twitter’s Customer Service Portal.
After that, Clark accessed the Twitter accounts of public figures and used them to post the scam. The tweet instructed victims to send Bitcoins to an account so that they would receive double the amount.
For his scam, Clark received $117,000. Other than Bitcoin defraud, the attackers also accessed the private direct messages (DMs) of 36 Twitter users.
It is unclear how Clark managed to access Twitter’s systems. The company only said that it was a “phone spear phishing attack”.
Federal agents said that Sheppard was caught because he used his personal driver’s license to verify for Binance and Coinbase cryptocurrency exchanges. His accounts were also found to have sent and received some of the stolen bitcoins.
Fazeli also used a driver’s license for verification with Coinbase. He was arrested for aiding the fraud after the Coinbase accounts under his alias “Rolex” received payments for stolen Twitter usernames.
Troubled Teenager
The fraud is not the first online misbehavior of Clark, who is the main perpetrator. The 17-year-old seems to have stolen $856,000 worth of Bitcoins, even though he never faced charges for it. He has previously scammed people on Minecraft as well.
Currently in jail, Clark is facing more than 30 felony counts including hacking, identity theft, and organized fraud. On the other hand, Fazeli is facing a five-year sentence and a $250,000 fine for computer intrusion. Sheppard is charged with computer intrusion, wire fraud, and money laundering, for which he is facing 20 years of prison and a $250,000 fine.

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