NCC Group advises on security and privacy for Danish COVID-19 app

NCC Group is proud to have collaborated with the Danish Ministry of Health on the security of the newly launched COVID-19 contact tracing app.

NCC Group was engaged by Sundheds- og ældreministeriet (the Danish Ministry of Health) to provide a series of security assessments of the application, the backend infrastructure and integrate with the development of the app to offer security related advice.

NCC Group’s Christian Dønning, who is responsible for the collaboration with the Danish Ministry of Health, is pleased with the level of communication between all involved parties:

“Throughout the project, we communicated potential issues as soon as they were discovered and where required had meetings with all of the parties that were involved in developing the app. There was a continual dialogue throughout the project.”

Thomas Atkinson, the technical lead on the project for NCC Group, added:

“This incredibly thorough level of collaboration ensured that we successfully achieved incredible results in a short period of time. It was critically important to launch the app quickly. However, given the nature of the information that it would process, it was also paramount to ensure that we could achieve the best possible level of security and privacy. And this would not have been possible without the close collaboration between all parties.”

The critical nature of the project, with COVID-19 still a threat, meant that it was important for the Danish Ministry of Health to make the app available to the population quickly.

The Danish Ministry of Health made a considerable effort to strike the required balance between getting the project over the finish line without compromising on security. Privacy and security have been a top priority for the Danish Ministry of Health and for Netcompany and Trifork, who were responsible for the development of the app.

Tomas Sørensen Boye, Managing Director, Europe, NCC Group, commented:

“We are thrilled with how seriously the Danish Ministry of Health and the involved parties have taken security throughout the entire project. We feel that our advice was listened to and acted upon to deliver the best possible level of security prior to the release date. Now, we need as many people as possible to download the app, so that it serves its purpose and helps our society beat this pandemic!”

The Danish Ministry of Health urges all Danish residents to start using the app, which is an effective tool in minimizing the spread of coronavirus.

You can download the app here.