Winter Olympic Games: Experts recommend disposable smartphones

In the course of the Olympic Games, there are repeated discussions about which smartphones the participants should use. For the upcoming Winter Games in Beijing, experts recommend using a disposable device. The reason for this is not simply the fact that the February event is taking place in China and the athletes and many related people are there on the state-controlled networks.

Competitors are also required to use the official My2022 app, which provides a full range of features related to the games, the reports BBC. The security experts at the Canadian organization Citizen Lab have examined the software and have reported serious concerns from an IT security perspective. Various vulnerabilities have already been found during standardized security tests. In addition, no encryption is used for data transmission between the app and the servers. In addition, there are the blacklists typical of China for certain terms that cannot be used in the news and postings from the app because they deal with topics that the Chinese government does not like.

Use is mandatory

The organizers oblige the participants and visitors of the games to install the app at least 14 days before their trip to China. Because regular corona tests must also be documented via the software, without which entry is not possible. Otherwise, My2022 enables the athletes to contact each other and offers a wide range of information about the event. The Olympic federations of several countries have already agreed with the assessment of the security experts and advise their representatives not to take their personal smartphones with them to China.

Instead, it is better to use a virgin model that can be completely rebuilt after returning. In addition, the mobile phones should of course not be used with the account that is otherwise used, but with a new account created specifically for this purpose.