Beijing Olympics app susceptible to data breaches

Beijing, Jan 18 (Agency) The official Beijing Winter Olympics app that all the attendees at the Games must use is laced with security weaknesses that can leave users exposed to data breaches, cybersecurity group Citizen Lab warned on Tuesday. The app known as My2022 app will be used by athletes, audience members and media to monitor the Covid situation on a daily basis, the BBC reported.

The app offers voice chats, file transfers and Olympic news. But according to Citizen Lab the app fails to provide encryption on many of its files and asked the people attending the Olympics to bring burner phones and create email accounts during their time in China. This comes as several countries reportedly told their athletes to leave their main devices at home before arriving in China. The release of the report coincides with a rise in warnings about visitors’ tech security ahead of the Games, which begin on February 4.