A centralized contact-tracing protocol for the COVID-19 pandemic

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Public Health
• Cybersecurity

Background:

• Digital contact tracing (DCT) is crucial for managing COVID-19 outbreaks post-lockdown.
• Existing DCT systems raise significant privacy concerns, including potential for mass surveillance.
• Protecting user data is paramount in developing effective public health technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce ZE2-P3T, a novel centralized digital contact tracing protocol.
• To ensure user privacy and data security within a smartphone-based localization system.
• To offer a more secure alternative to current state-of-the-art DCT protocols.

Main Methods:

• Development of a centralized DCT protocol named ZE2-P3T (Zero Ephemeral Exchanging Privacy-Preserving Proximity Protocol).
• Utilizes smartphone localization without revealing user location or identity to the server.
• Eliminates the need for ephemeral identity exchange among users, enhancing security.

Main Results:

• ZE2-P3T ensures user anonymity by not transmitting location or identity data.
• The protocol's security is strengthened by the absence of ephemeral identity exchange.
• ZE2-P3T demonstrates superior security compared to the DP-3T/GAEN protocol.

Conclusions:

• ZE2-P3T offers a robust and privacy-preserving solution for digital contact tracing.
• The protocol effectively mitigates risks of misuse and mass surveillance.
• This approach advances the security standards for pandemic response technologies.