A researcher has advised World Cup fans and attendees to buy a backup phone or get burner phones to avoid an alleged snooping feature within a few Qatar spyware apps. The data protection agency notifies its football fans that they should protect themselves from a possible Qatar World Cup application’s snooping on their devices.
Based on the reminder, anyone visiting Qatar for the World Cup should bring an old phone that has been reset in the past or a new blank device. The new phones will protect visitors from disrespecting the legislation within the country, as sensitive contents within a device might offend the government.
The World Cup host country expects over 1.5 million attendees. The event will start on November 20 up to December 18. However, the sporting event and the host have been linked to numerous controversies like bribery and corruption allegations.
Additionally, members of the LGBTQ+ community and media transparency might face numerous issues within the host’s territory.
A couple of mobile features are compulsory to download by every visitor, and some experts believe both contain spyware apps.
The government will mandate that foreign visitors will either attend the World Cup or not download two mobile applications. These apps are called Ehteraz (Covid-tracker) and Hayya (World Cup app), and several researchers consider both spyware apps from Qatar.
Cybersecurity experts have classified both applications as spyware since they would give the Qatari government various access to visitors’ data. In addition, the app could enable the authorities to read, remove, or alter the content and make direct calls depending on the verdict of the host country.
The data protection authority has advised its fellow citizens to install the earlier-mentioned applications on blank or disposable phones.
Furthermore, the entity suggests that travellers who install the app should only do it upon departure and uninstall it as soon as they return to their respective countries. Football fanatics should also limit system authorisation to any app if possible.
