Testing reveals cybersecurity issues in 32 out of 33 public safety apps

Testing reveals cybersecurity issues in 32 out of 33 public safety apps A joint government-private sector collaborative project recently tested 33 public safety apps for vulnerabilities. They found 32 of them had security and privacy weaknesses, and 18 had significant critical flaws. Several Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offices, the Association of PublicSafety Communications Officials and Kryptowire, LLC, worked on the pilot “Securing Mobile Applications for First Responders” program, which had two main purposes: ĵ Improve security of public safety mobile apps. ĵ See if there is need for a security testing protocol for public safety apps. Some of the vulnerabilities enabled remote hackers to record audio and gave them access to the camera, contacts and personal data, along with various other critical flaws that could be exploited. The vulnerabilities affected both Android and iOS devices. The pilot project worked with companies and developers to identify and correct problems in the apps. So far, 14 of the mobile apps are fixed. For more detailed information, see the DHS Science and Technology Directorate report. (Source: DHS S&T)