Between 1 and 2 million people are expected by Qatar for this World Cup. And they won’t come alone… because they’ll have their personal data with them.
You arrive in Qatar with a group of friends to enjoy the World Cup, and arrive at the airport, you are asked to install two applications on your smartphone, Hayya and Ehteraz. The first is intended for supporters and should help them find their way around Qatar. The second is for the management of Kovid-19.
However, there is a curious behavior in these two applications. To begin with, Ehteraz has constant access to your geographic location, it can very easily consult the contents of your phone and erase the data it doesn’t like. It is also capable of unlocking your phone and making calls for you or analyzing your own calls.
Haya shares your personal data with the authorities in the country without restriction, knows exactly which networks you are connected to and prevents your smartphone from going into sleep mode. These two applications, once installed on your pro’s phone, will behave like real spyware. It is not yet known whether Qatari customs will act like Chinese customs and whether they will inspect every phone entering their territory to check the correct installation of these two applications.
A short guide for supporters looking to protect their data
These are apps, not spyware. So theoretically, when installing them, you can limit their access and thus counter their potential negative effects. More extreme solution: Take an old blank phone with no data and use it to install Qatari apps. At worst, Cnil recommends backing up your phone, resetting it, then reinstalling your data when you return from Qatar. Whichever solution you choose, don’t forget to avoid connecting to public WIFI, as they are not always very secure.