Privacy and Security Challenges in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in social, economic, and healthcare disruption unprecedently worldwide. It has brought practically everything to a halt. Moreover, it has dramatically accelerated the adoption of digital technology resulting in a growing number of incidences of cybercrime, including social engineering to access sensitive information. Furthermore, with the reduced amount of common physical labor, some digital surveillance and security systems were proposed for keeping the trace of transmission. Nevertheless, various automatic associated tracking implementations and the lack of smartphone usage among people bring privacy and security concerns. So, this chapter mainly discusses digital security and privacy violations with their protection measures and the recently developed digital surveillance systems after COVID-19. Furthermore, this chapter will pave the way to understand the futuristic tools and aspects that could be worthwhile in tackling digital privacy and security challenges in managing such infectious diseases.