A look at the risks posed by data, including geolocation, harvested from common apps for phones belonging to US intelligence officers and military personnel
Apps show troop movements buried in data available for purchase: ‘a major risk to national security’
Wall Street Journal Byron Tau
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- Location info sold by smartphone apps revealed US military movements in Syria 9to5Mac · Ben Lovejoy
Discussion
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@byrontau
Byron Tau
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The free ad-supported Internet comes with a cost: tracking. And that tracking — of mobile locations and everything else — can be turned against U.S. servicemembers serving in warzones. How one company saw evidence of secret U.S. missions in ad data. https://www.wsj.com/...
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@spytalker
Jeff Stein
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There's a holy sh*t element to this story of apps data-tracking US soldiers in war zones, by @ByronTau @WSJ https://twitter.com/...
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@_danielsinclair
Daniel Sinclair
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Strava's heat map was just the beginning. From the POTUS Secret Service detail, to the Capitol Riots, and these U.S. special-operations in Syria, so much sensitive operational data is leaking through mobile apps and location aggregators https://twitter.com/...
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@rebeccaballhaus
Rebecca Ballhaus
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The personal phones of U.S. soldiers pose a national security threat, emitting signals while in hot spots that can betray troop movements. Anyone can buy the data. Fascinating story by @byrontau: https://www.wsj.com/...
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@mollymckew
Molly McKew
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DoD should have started looking at this problem set after the Strava cluster****. But only recently have I noticed some progress in understanding how all this data allows active duty troops to be targeted, and collected on. Warrants serious attention. https://twitter.com/...
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@martingund
Martin Gundersen
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The problems with location data is usually best explained by concrete examples. @ByronTau shows how a US company could track American soldiers to an abandoned cement factory in Northern Syria, a staging area for US special operations. https://www.wsj.com/...
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@carter_pe
Phillip Carter
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“Devices appeared at US facilities such as Fort Bragg... Fort Hood... or tiny desert outposts... before later traveling to the Lafarge Cement Factory in Northern Syria. They would reappear back in the US—often at private residences—presumably the homes of military personnel.” htt…
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@delwilber
Del Quentin Wilber
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very smart story by @ByronTau on how cell phones of U.S. forces could betray their movements/missions to our adversaries. https://twitter.com/...
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@wsj
@wsj
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Soldiers' personal phones pose a national security threat, emitting signals while in hotspots that can betray troop movements. Anyone can buy the data. https://www.wsj.com/...