Analysis of Data’s Privacy and Anonymity Aspects of Contact Tracing Apps via Smartphones – A Use Case of COVID-19

Authors

  • Haritha Akkineni PVP Siddhartha Institute of Technology, Vijayawada, India
  • Madhu Bala Myneni VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India
  • Budi Padmaja Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Hyderabad, India
  • Ananda Ravuri Software Engineer, Intel Corporation, USA
  • CH. V. K. N. S. N. Moorthy Vasavi College of Engineering, Hyderabad, India
  • Raviteja CMS Dreamplug Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bangalore

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13052/jmm1550-4646.1956

Keywords:

ArogyaSetu, ARIMA model, Contact Tracing, Machine Learning, RFID tags, Smartphone Apps, time series prediction.

Abstract

Privacy and anonymity aspects are playing a vital role in accessing smartphone apps. This is more evident in unexpected epidemic situations like COVID-19 while working with contact tracing apps. A human connectivity model is essential to analyse the widespread cases of viruses and vaccination patterns during the timeframe of March 2020 to May 2021. Smartphone apps that are supported by technologies like IoT and blockchain have already proven effective in tracing the Ebola epidemic. Thus, this technology, coupled with privacy-preserving features, would help to discover clusters with infectious contacts and alert the respective authorities. Besides, this can also allow us to understand the human connectivity model and the effectiveness of vaccines, which can aid in developing a plan of action for future epidemics. Hence, this article focuses on the analysis of data collected from contact tracing apps and a number of affected cases. It includes a study on early solutions with existing technologies, an overview and analysis of existing COVID-19 apps with vulnerabilities, proposed solutions, and data analysis on privacy and anonymity aspects of smartphone apps using the ARIMA model. It is evaluated by correlating it with the usage of contact tracing apps. The results assured a positive correlation between the number of downloads and the number of cases. This infers that even though the Indian government released these contact tracing apps, it all depends on the citizens to utilise them to their fullest. As a policy suggestion, it is stated that regardless of the prevalence of contact tracing apps, people must follow the rules and regulations suggested by the local health authorities and maintain social distancing in public places.

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Author Biographies

Haritha Akkineni, PVP Siddhartha Institute of Technology, Vijayawada, India

Haritha Akkineni is currently an associate professor in Information Technology at PVP Siddhartha Institute of Technology, Vijayawada. She received her Ph.D in Computer Science and Engineering. She is working in the area of Opinion Mining and Data Sciences. She has twelve years of academic and research experience. Her research interests are Data Science, Image Mining, Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, Deep Learning and Machine Learning. She has published about 38 papers in reputed Journals like SCOPUS UGC etc. She has published 2 patents. She has received grants from AICTE for organizing Short Term Training Programs. She is a reviewer for SCOPUS indexed journals. She authored a book on Opinion Mining. She acted as Workshop/tutorial chair for various International Conferences. She delivered various invited talks.

Madhu Bala Myneni, VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India

Madhu Bala Myneni is working as a Professor of computer science and engineering at VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India. She received her Ph.D in Computer Science and Engineering from JNTUH. She has Twenty-one years of academic and research experience. Her research interests are Data Science frameworks, Image Mining, Text mining, Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, and Data Analytics. She has published 57 articles in reputed Journals indexed in SCOPUS, SCI, etc. She has published 2 patents. She is the Principal Investigator of DST funded project on sustainable smart city development. And has received variousgrants from AICTE for organizing Short Term Training Programs; Infrastructure Development; and Faculty Development Programs. And selected a part of AICTE national mission programs such as Student Learning Outcomes Assessment (SLA); Technical Book Writing (TBW). She is a reviewerfor Elsevier, Springer, and more indexed journals. She acted as session chair, organizing member, and advisory member for various International Conferences. She delivered various invited talks on Data Modelling, Data Science, and Analytics. She is a Life member of professional bodies like CSI and ISTE, Sr. Member for IEEE, WIE & International association IAENG, ICST, and SDIWC.

Budi Padmaja, Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Hyderabad, India

Budi Padmaja is currently working as an Associate Professor of CSE (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning), Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. She has received her B.Tech from the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), Arunachal Pradesh, India in May 2001. She completed her M.Tech from the School of IT, JNTUH, and Hyderabad, India in 2010. She was awarded the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science and Engineering in 2021 by JNTUH, Hyderabad. She has vast teaching and research experience of 20 years. She has published more than 25 research papers in various International journals and presented more than 15 papers in various International conferences. She is also a reviewer for 08 International journals. Her current areas of research interest include Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Computer Vision, and Social Network Analysis. She is a life member of ISTE, CSI, IAENG and CSTA.

Ananda Ravuri, Software Engineer, Intel Corporation, USA

Ananda Ravuri has obtained his B.Tech Degree from SV University Andhra Pradesh, and M.Tech (Electrical Machines and Industrial drivers) from NIT Warangal, Telangana. He is having nearly 20+ years’ experience in Information Technology Software Architectural Design, Development and Integration of software Applications, Middleware, Device drivers and Hardware on Windows and Linux OS. His area of research includes Intel Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) Open Stack (OFS), Smart NIC and Infrastructure Processing Unit (IPU), Workload acceleration. Presently he is working as Sr Software Engineer at Intel Corporation, USA.

CH. V. K. N. S. N. Moorthy, Vasavi College of Engineering, Hyderabad, India

CH. V. K. N. S. N. Moorthy is working as Director R&D, Vasavi College of Engineering, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. He is a multidisciplinary and cross domain researcher having experience in the fields of Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering. He received Master of Technology both in the fields of Computer Science Engineering and Heat Power Refrigeration & Air Conditioning. He received Doctoral degree for research in the field of Thermo-Nano Fluid Heat Transfer from GITAM University, Vishakhapatnam and pursuing his Doctoral degree in the field of Machine Learning too. He has nearly two decades of teaching and research experience with a total research grant of 424.46 K USD from Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India for various projects under cross domain research, more than 40 research publications, International Research Collaborations, Awards and Patents to his credit. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow Member of Institution of Engineers, India (IEI), a Life Member of Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE), Member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). His thrust areas of research include Cognitive Science, Data Analytics and Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Thermo-Nano fluid Heat Transfer, Nanotechnology, Carbon Nano Tubes, Computational Fluid Dynamics.

Raviteja CMS, Dreamplug Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bangalore

Raviteja CMS his B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Hyderabad in 2021. His areas of interest are Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Computer Vision. Currently he is working with Dreamplug Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bangalore as of July 2023.

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Published

2023-08-14

How to Cite

Akkineni, H. ., Myneni, M. B. ., Padmaja, B. ., Ravuri, A. ., Moorthy, C. V. K. N. S. N. ., & CMS, R. . (2023). Analysis of Data’s Privacy and Anonymity Aspects of Contact Tracing Apps via Smartphones – A Use Case of COVID-19. Journal of Mobile Multimedia, 19(05), 1255–1276. https://doi.org/10.13052/jmm1550-4646.1956

Issue

2023: Vol 19 Iss 5

Section

Articles

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