Aarogya Setu Code has Been Opened, Bug Bounty Programme Launched for Developers

The source code of the Aarogya Setu app has now been made open source. The source code for the Android version of the application is now available for review and collaboration as almost 98 percent of the users of the Aarogya Setu app are on Android platform. However, the iOS version of the source code will be released as well within the next two weeks.

The decision to make Aarogya Setu open source was first conveyed by Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on a public forum. “Even though it’ll divert us from more important tasks like building new functionalities and better analysis of what’s already in place, we’ve decided to open the code within the next few days,” he said while demolishing concerns over data privacy.

By opening the source code to the developer community, the Government of India says that it hopes to reiterate the basis of the Aaorogya Setu app, which are transparency, privacy and security. The Indian Government says that it also aims to expand collaboration and leverage the expertise of top technical brains in the country to collectively build a robust and secure technology.

The government added through a statement that it hopes that with this move the developer community will be able to identify any vulnerabilities or code improvements that may be required to make Aarogya Setu all the more robust and secure. Apart from this, a Bug Bounty Programme has also been launched to test the security and effectiveness of the contact tracing app. Those interested in the programme can visit innovate.mygov.in for more information.