Tag: tracked | SpinSafe

Police disagree with Apple on security as Arizonans tracked with AirTags | CBS 5 Investigates

February 17, 2022/in Mobile Security

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — Stalking through technology. Apple recently announced plans to add more measures to AirTags to cut down on unwanted tracking.

The Bluetooth devices are designed to track objects such as keys or backpacks, but reports are increasing across the country of the devices being used to stalk people.

Apple airtag tracking — Since the tracking devices were launched last April, the Phoenix Police Department has seen nine cases involving AirTags.

(Source: 3TV/CBS 5)

Apple’s website says it worked with law enforcement to update AirTag’s safety warnings, but there are concerns the efforts don’t go far enough.

Among the software updates that will happen later this year:

Alerting people sooner if a device is suspected to be tracking someone
A louder chirping sound if the device is separated from its owner
Instructions on how to find information on the device’s owner and disable the device.

Since the tracking devices were launched last April, the Phoenix Police Department has seen nine cases involving AirTags.

Detective Karrie Flanigan with the Mesa Police Department has worked on 5 cases involving spouses going through divorces or ex-boyfriends and girlfriends stalking each other.

Is my phone telling me I'm being followed?

What is…

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Your iPhone can be tracked via Bluetooth — and you may not be able to stop it

October 22, 2021/in Mobile Security

Your smartphone or laptop gives off unique Bluetooth radio signals that can be identified and used to track your device’s location, says a new research study. Just turning Bluetooth off can’t always prevent this — some devices, especially Apple ones, might need to be totally powered off.

When Bluetooth is turned on, all mainstream smartphones, laptops, and smartwatches do their best to try to keep you anonymous through randomizing network addresses and other means. But there’s enough variation in the physical radio signals sent out by each device to be able to uniquely “fingerprint” individual devices much of the time, says the University of California, San Diego study.

“These applications use cryptographic anonymity that limit an adversary’s ability to use these beacons to stalk a user,” the study says. “However, attackers can bypass these defenses by fingerprinting the unique physical-layer imperfections in the transmissions of specific devices.”

“Even when there are hundreds of devices we encountered in the field, it is still feasible to track a specific mobile device by its physical-layer fingerprint,” the study notes. It did caution that certain devices had similar fingerprints, which could lead to misidentification.

Some devices were easier to fingerprint than others. While iPhones tended to have similar-looking fingerprints, they were substantially “louder” than Android devices, sending out stronger Bluetooth signals and being detectable at greater distances.

Study leaders Hadi Givehchian and Nishant Bhaskar told The Register that the equipment needed to track these devices would cost about $200. They found that picking out individual devices using Bluetooth signals in public places was not that efficient — they were able to identify devices only between 40% and 50% of the time.

However, once a device’s Bluetooth signal profile was known, the researchers said, they were able to follow the device around town with an accuracy rate of 96%.

The study, entitled “Evaluating Physical-Layer BLE Location Tracking Attacks on Mobile Devices,” will be formally presented at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy in May 2022.

Nonetheless, there are limits to this method, the study…

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TikTok Tracked User Data Using Tactic Banned by Google – The Wall Street Journal

August 12, 2020/in Mobile Security

TikTok Tracked User Data Using Tactic Banned by Google The Wall Street Journal
“android security news” – read more

London Underground passengers told to turn off their Wi-Fi if they don’t want to be tracked

May 25, 2019/in Computer Security

From 8 July 2019, travellers on London’s underground tube network may wish to turn off their Wi-Fi first… if they don’t like the idea of being tracked.

Graham Cluley

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