SOCORRO, N.M. -- New Mexico Tech announced the release of its MinerSafe contact-tracing app that offers the highest level of user data privacy and security available on the market. The app uses geo-fencing to cover the entire university campus, but it does not track users when they are not on campus. Furthermore, the data is heavily protected and will be frequently purged in an ongoing process to ensure the privacy of those in the campus community.

MinerSafe has been approved by NMT’s Cybersecurity Center of Excellence and verified by the Department of Homeland Security. 

NMT VP for Research Dr. Van Romero said that the privacy and security of NMT students, staff, and faculty was the top priority in the development of the app. Those efforts led to the absolute safest app of its kind.

The benefit for users comes from a better understanding of who may have been exposed. Dr. Romero explains the app can help determine potential exposure and the extent of potential exposure using GPS data to determine proximity and duration to a confirmed case. “The data from this app will help us determine who can forego quarantine when they’ve been potentially exposed,” Romero said. “We all want to get back to normal as quickly and safely as possible, and this app gets one step closer.” 

Tech collaborated with New Mexico State University (NMSU) on the initial project but then went on to redesign the app at its Institute for Complex Additive Systems Analysis (ICASA) and Cybersecurity Center of Excellence research centers to enhance the privacy and security of the app.

“NMSU really helped us get it off the ground,” Romero said. “In that same spirit, we’re making our app available to other universities so that they can benefit from the effort that we’ve put into it. Beating the COVID pandemic is going to require teamwork, after all.”

The MinerSafe app is free to use and is available now in the Apple App Store (MinerSafe), and it will be available to Android users within the next few days. 

MinerSafe Roll Out Video: https://youtu.be/hfZDpR9C-6I

– NMT –