In a statement issued, the authoritative French data protection authority CNIL has provided tips on how football fans can implement security measures to avoid being spied on by apps. These tips can come in handy for the Qatar World Cup.
To maximize your security, it would be best to travel with a blank smartphone or an old phone that has been reset by CNIL, a CNIL spokesperson told POLITICO earlier this week. If you are traveling to Qatar for the World Cup, it is highly recommended that you purchase an electronic burner phone.
In addition, you should avoid taking any photos that might violate the strict moral laws that govern the Gulf state. The spokesperson advised you should take special care with photographs, videos, or digital works that may present a problem. This is because of the laws that are in effect in the country you are visiting.
During the 2022 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Qatar between November 20 and December 18, around 1.5 million visitors are expected to be in the country. Sports events have been marred by controversy in recent years due to allegations of bribery and corruption. In addition, there are concerns about the treatment of LGBTQ+ people in the Gulf states, and concerns about media freedom throughout the country.
To participate in the World Cup, foreign visitors are required to download two apps - the official World Cup application Hayya as well as the Covid tracking application Ehteraz, which is required to track gameplay.
As a form of spyware, these apps have been deemed by experts to be a threat. This is because they will give Qatari authorities wide access to the data of their citizens. Among other things, they would also enable you to read, delete, add, or change content, as well as make direct calls to other users.
“It is not my job to give travel advice, but I would never bring my mobile phone on a visit to Qatar,” said the Norwegian broadcaster’s head of security to Norway’s NRK broadcaster. The country’s data protection authority is also expected to advise traveling fans to install the apps on a burner phone.
France’s CNIL has other tips to limit spyware's impact on football fans who do not have a blank phone.
According to France's data protection authorities, users should download the app only just before departure and remove it once they have returned to France. The company is also encouraging its customers to limit the number of online services that require authentication to a minimum. They should also keep their smartphones by their side at all times, and have strong passwords for their accounts.
A football fan should also limit the number of authorizations granted to the system to an absolute minimum.
It appears that Qatar has some form of privacy framework. This is indicated on a map of privacy laws around the world provided by the CNIL. However, it has not been recognized by the EU as providing specific privacy protections. A comparison has been made between this data protection rulebook and one that serves as the flagship of the bloc.
The Qatari apps have also raised concerns on the part of several European regulators.
As a spokesperson for the commissioner of German data protection and freedom of information told POLITICO, a spokesperson for the federal office for information security, as well as the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Germany are all taking a closer look at the apps.
In addition, delegations heading to an international climate summit in Egypt were reminded this week that the COP27 summit app is a potential cyber weapon. This is because it could be used to steal data.