A SECURITY researcher has hacked a common at-home Covid-19 test and changed his results to prove the tests can be exploited.
Cyber expert Ken Gannon found and exploited a flaw in Ellume’s nasal swab test.
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The security issue was revealed by F-Secure, a security company Gannon consults for.
Ellume has now patched the flaw so it can’t be exploited by anyone else.
Gannon was able to intercept and modify Bluetooth traffic between the covid-testing device and the app.
He was able to change his result before it showed up in the app.
The hack wasn’t easy to do and involved tapping in and analyzing the data of the testing device.
Gannon then worked out what data he needed to fake a positive result.
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He wrote two scripts that changed a negative result into a positive one.
He was then emailed the false results by Ellume.
Gannon told The Verge that was his goal was “to see if an ‘average person’ can fake a positive/negative COVID test.”
The researcher concluded that “someone with the proper motivation and technical skills could’ve used these flaws to ensure they, or someone they’re working with, gets a negative result every time they’re tested.”
Technically, a hacker could have used an exploited test like this to travel.
Ellume is now said to be working on a “verification portal”.
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