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A check-in code that is scanned in front of a shop with the Luca app in Rostock: "At its core a trust-based system"
Photo: Bernd Wüstneck / dpa
Lower Saxony also wants to use the Luca app for the planned model projects to open up trade, culture and outdoor catering.
It is intended to be used for contact tracking in order to be able to interrupt chains of infection.
The model projects for opening are also to be linked to rapid tests.
The deputy head of the Corona crisis team of the Lower Saxony state government, Claudia Schröder, announced on Thursday that her state was negotiating together with Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt and Saarland about the use of the app .
Contracts for using the app should be concluded by the end of March at the latest.
A Luca spokesman confirmed the negotiations at SPIEGEL's request.
In contrast to the Corona warning app, for example, Luca can be connected directly to the health department in order to transmit contact details.
Similar to the Luca app, which is prominently supported by the musician Smudo, other so-called check-in apps also work.
Read more about how these apps work here.
Criticism from security experts
IT security experts had partly criticized the app.
The source code of the app is not yet openly visible.
This prevents IT experts from independently checking the security of the app and identifying possible weak points.
According to the app operators, the source code will be published at the end of March.
The makers of the Luca app also emphasize that the app encrypts the data decentrally.
On Monday, researchers from the Swiss university EPFL published an analysis of Luca's security concept, which the operators had made available at the beginning of March.
In several points, the app falls behind its own security promises, summarizes the specialist portal "Netzpolitik.org" the results of the study.
However, the study has not yet been reviewed by other scientists.
"The system is essentially a trust-based system," said Carmela Troncoso, who was involved in the study, in an interview with Netzpolitik.org, pointing out the problem that a lot of data is processed centrally.
This in turn increases the risk of abuse, the scientists conclude.
The Luca operators replied that the "Luca system does not have a central point that could decrypt the data on its own."
Several federal states are already using Luca
The federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as well as municipalities in Thuringia and Baden-Württemberg are already using the Luca app.
In the case of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the state government paid 440,000 euros for a license to use the app.
According to a report by Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the municipalities of Bremerhaven and Osnabrück are already connected to the app in Lower Saxony.
In addition to retail, the model projects in Lower Saxony should include outdoor catering, cultural facilities including theaters and cinemas and fitness studios, said the head of the State Chancellery, Jörg Mielke.
The projects are scheduled to start on April 6th and will initially run for three weeks.
The selection of the municipalities that have already shown interest in large numbers should be decided by Saturday.
Test centers also connected
As the Luca operator announced on Thursday, the app should also be able to document verified negative rapid test results in the future. In the first step, this should be done with the QR codes of the results from 250 rapid test centers in Germany.
This means that users of the Luca app should be able to show the negative result of such a test on their smartphone via a QR code.
The test results are only available locally on the user's device, according to the operators.
In addition, a total of 98 health authorities have connected to the system within the last two weeks, the operators said on Thursday.
hpp / dpa
