Written question asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench) on Tuesday, 23 June 2020, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 7 July 2020. It was answered by Lord Bethell (Conservative) on Tuesday, 30 June 2020 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Contact Tracing: Software

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that any application designed to track people who have been in contact with COVID-19 (1) works on a broad range of mobile phones and operating systems; (2) can send notifications to contacts within minutes of symptoms having been reported; (3) can detect hacking attempts and prevent notifications being sent maliciously; and (4) can apply corrective algorithms to ensure that distance is measured accurately.

Answer: We have prioritised security and privacy in all stages of the app’s development starting with the initial design and continuing throughout its implementation and testing. We have been working with experts from the National Cyber Security Centre, our independent Ethics Advisory Board, and security researchers and ethicists from industry.

Secondary information