Govt Open-Sources Aarogya Setu Android App’s Code, Launches Bug-Bounty Program

The Government of India has released the source code of its contact tracing Aarogya Setu Android app on GitHub. Also known as making the code of the app “open source”, the move will help in scrutinising and finding loopholes in the app by security experts and ethical hackers across the country which will help in making it more secure and robust.

“The iOS version of the application will be released as open source within the next two weeks and the server code will be released subsequently. Almost 98% of Aarogya Setu Users are on Android platform.” said the Ministry of Electronics & IT in a press release.

The #AarogyaSetuApp is now open source. Read the attached release documents to know more. pic.twitter.com/dubwKQTK0w

— Aarogya Setu (@SetuAarogya) May 26, 2020

Out of more than 114 million registered users, two-thirds have taken the self-assessment test to evaluate their risk of exposure to COVID-19. The App has helped identify about 500,000 Bluetooth contacts. 

“So far, the platform has reached out to more than 900,000 users and helped advise them for Quarantine, caution or testing. Amongst those who were recommended for testing for COVID19, it has been found that almost 24% of them have been found COVID19 positive.” stated the press release.

Along with open-sourcing the code, the government also rolled out a bug bounty programme, offering a reward of ₹1 lakh for those who discover bugs or loopholes in the app.

“Opening of the Aarogya Setu app source code is unique. No other govt. product anywhere in the world has been open-sourced at this scale. Today, its scale and size is 115 million. Fastest app to reach 15 million in 13 days, 100 million in 41 days,” said Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog.

Opening of #AarogyaSetu app source code is unique. No other govt. product anywhere in the world has been open-sourced at this scale. Today, its scale and size is 115 million. Fastest app to reach 15 million in 13 days, 100 million in 41 days. - CEO, @NITIAayog, @amitabhk87 pic.twitter.com/icRS2FqtoN

— PIB in Maharashtra

Since the release of the app, privacy activists across the country were demanding to make the App’s source code open, citing privacy concerns, that the app raised considering the huge chunk of personal information it collects.