The Need for State Data in Contact Tracing Apps

Leslie Toldo of NBC 25 Mid-Michigan Now News interviews CRITICALSTART‘s CTO, Randy Watkins, on the potential impact COVID-19 contact tracing apps on your cybersecurity.

Video Transcripts:

LT: With all of this going on and all of this in mind, it’s hard to know if you’ve already been exposed to coronavirus. There are some contact tracing apps available, but a tech expert from the security firm CRITICALSTART warns that if an app doesn’t use state data, it won’t be reliable. He says it’s vital to pay attention to alert exposures, like the ones we told you about this morning, and report symptoms and test results to loved ones and your employer right away.

RW: If you miss a common link, there is a potential that the actual origin of that outbreak could be entirely missed. The other big risk there is if you aren’t contacted because you don’t have these applications or you are not a part of this contact tracing method, you could be infected or you could be a carrier of the virus without knowing and unknowingly, unfortunately, spread it to more vulnerable family members.

LT: The state health department is doing contact tracing by phone and ask people to take any call that comes from the My COVID help number or your local health department.