"Canadian Vaccine Passport App Exposes Data"

Canadian vaccine passport app PORTpass may have exposed personal information belonging to hundreds of thousands of users.   According to a report by CBC News, the app's operators left data, including names, identification documents, and email addresses, on an unsecured website. The personal information was allegedly stored in plain text and could be accessed by the public.   Following a tipoff, the news source investigated the security of the PORTpass website. CBC News stated that it was able to verify that app user's information, among others: "Email addresses, names, blood types, phone numbers, birthdays, as well as photos of identification like driver's licenses and passports can easily be viewed by reviewing dozens of users' profiles." The team behind the app is based in Calgary and is led by Chief Executive Officer Zakir Hussein. In response to concerns over the app's security, Hussein reportedly denied that PORTpass was experiencing any verification or security issues.  However, the app's website has been taken offline, and visitors to the site are currently met with the message, "We are updating. Stay tuned."  PORTpass is described on Google Play as "a secure and contactless way for a member of the public to gain access to a building, site, or ticketed event using their secure MapleCode." Hussein reportedly said the app has more than 650,000 registered users across Canada. 

Infosecurity reports: "Canadian Vaccine Passport App Exposes Data"