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TECHNOLOGY Wednesday 13 september 2017

Rogue Korean child-monitoring app is back, researchers say

By YOUKYUNG LEE and RA- Citizen Lab said in a state- ment by proposing a bill
PHAEL SATTER ment. in parliament that would
Associated Press “Smart Sheriff” was intend- allow parents to opt out of
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — ed to send alerts to parents installing a monitoring de-
A South Korean child-mon- if children swore or talked vice.
itoring smartphone app about sex, bullying or feel- The proposal “shows the
that was removed from the ing depressed. But experts government acknowl-
market in 2015 after it was were scathing about its edges its original position
found to be riddled with lack of security. Cure53, was wrong, but it’s not
security flaws has been re- a German auditing firm, enough,” said Kelly Kim,
issued under a new name called the program “fun- general counsel at Open-
and still puts children at risk, damentally broken.” Net Korea, a civic group,
researchers said Monday. Citizen Lab and Cure53 who co-authored the Citi-
The app “Cyber Security say the app appears to zen Lab report. “The man-
Zone” is part of govern- have been rebranded as In this May 15, 2015 file photo, a promotional banner of mobile date is unconstitutional
ment efforts to curb what “Cyber Security Zone” — apps that block harmful contents, is posted on the door at a and should be abolished.”
authorities consider ex- the equivalent of putting mobile store in Seoul, South Korea. The child surveillance apps
cessive cellphone use by a fresh coat of paint on a Associated Press are part of a “clean inter-
young people. Parents are dangerous old clunker. net” campaign launched
required by law to install “Users are being misled,” to catch at least one secu- access to pro-North Kore- by the government with
monitoring software on said the Citizen Lab report. rity lapse: the app’s devel- an websites and material MOIBA since 2013. MOIBA
smartphones for all chil- MOIBA denied the two sys- oper had not encrypted a deemed pornographic. received nearly 963 million
dren 18 and under. tems were the same and key to the password. That South Korean authori- won ($853,000) this year for
The app is almost identi- an official of the group stemmed from the app’s ties believe monitoring the campaign.
cal to a previous system, said a review by the gov- design. and censoring children’s The South Korean telecom
“Smart Sheriff,” which left ernment’s Korean Internet “They should not have built smartphone use is part of regulator, Korea Commu-
children’s private informa- & Security Agency found the app this way,” said Kim the state’s duty to protect nications Commission, has
tion vulnerable to hack- security for “Cyber Security Chan-il, a KISA manager. teenagers against harmful promoted the two apps
ers, according to Internet Zone” satisfactory. He said the government content such as pornogra- developed by MOIBA
watchdog Citizen Lab at “We cannot agree to the and MOIBA should make phy. among teachers, parents
the University of Toronto. opinion that the applica- sure to hire developers who There is broad public sup- and students.Despite that,
Both were developed un- tion was not developed pay attention to security port for the government to the app has received
der the auspices of MOIBA, with security in mind,” said and have enough time to stop online behavior that many negative reviews.
the industry association for the official, Noh Yong-lae. build an app. is deemed to be an ad- The children’s version has
South Korean cellphone Noh said MOIBA cut ties An audit by KISA “does not diction. The government been downloaded about
service providers. with the developer of guarantee security against spends public money to 6,000 times and the parent
“The flaws in the apps “Smart Sheriff” and hired all weaknesses,” Kim said. help users break habits of version about 30,000 times.
open the door to possible another company to up- Rates of smartphone and excessive computer gam- A commission official,
breaches of sensitive in- date and develop apps. internet use in South Ko- ing and internet use. Kwon Man-sub, said if new
formation including pass- KISA officials who looked at rea are among the world’s The backlash to “Smart security risks are found, the
words, phone numbers, the Citizen Lab report said highest. The government Sheriff” prompted the gov- government is willing to re-
and other user data,” their agency’s audit failed operates filters to block ernment to ease enforce- view them. q

Retro Nintendo gaming system

returning to shelves next year

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) The 8-bit system went ny to extend shipping
— Nintendo says the on sale for the holidays of its upcoming retro
retro version of one of last year. version of the 16-bit Su-
its iconic video game The Classic Edition in- per NES into next year.
platforms will return to cludes 30 games like Shipments of the system
store shelves next year. “Super Mario Bros.” and were slated to end at
The company says its “The Legend of Zelda.” the end of the calendar
Nintendo Entertain- Washington-based Nin- year.
ment System Classic tendo said Tuesday The Super NES Classic In this May 7, 2014, file photo, shoppers walk under the logo of
Edition will return next that high demand has Edition is set for release Nintendo and Super Mario characters at an electronics store in
summer. prompted the compa- on Sept. 29.q Tokyo.
Associated Press