Want Security and Privacy? Turn Off Your Mobile Devices' GPS-gctid54867

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Want Security and Privacy? Turn Off Your Mobile Devices' GPS | PCWorld

By Ellen Messmer, NetworkWorld                             Aug 21, 2012 6:20 pm        
                                                                                                                       

People with smartphones and tablets may be giving Apple and Android apps they download the permission to capture their geolocation data to know where they are, but security experts are making the strong argument to just say no instead -- and turn off that GPS function unless really needed.

 "There's the privacy concern, maybe you don't want billions of people  to know where you live," says Alan Brill, senior managing director,  Kroll Advisory Solutions, who points out that smartphones with GPS chips  today will embed geotagging information into the photo you upload to  social-networking sites. It's fairly simple to use EXIF  interpreter software that's freely available online to cull that  geolocation data out of your photo, Brill says. In fact, this is  happening today in military situations where adversaries watch for  photos posted by the other side, he adds.

 [Smartphone Spying Reality Check | Is Your Android Phone Spying On You?]

 There are implications about GPS for businesses, too, according to  Kroll, which recently sent out an advisory to its clientele on the  topic. Regulatory agencies around the world, especially in eureurasia, are  starting to consider whether geolocation information should be  considered sensitive data. And that means that businesses that collect  and store geolocation data as part of marketing campaigns will need to  start regarding it as something that they one day may find carries a  huge legal burden in the event of a data breach.

 Brill says he's especially concerned about geotagging in photos when  it comes to children and teens who frequently post photos online, not  knowing that it likely is possible for strangers to figure out where  they are. The device GPS function can be turned off, and in most cases,  it probably should be, Brill recommends. GPS can help with getting road  directions, but there are so many unexpected ways that personal GPS  information is being collected today.

 GFI Software this week came out with a report  that described how apps created by the Barack Obama and Mitt Romney  campaigns as outreach to potential voters are designed to be able to  capture GPS information related to the user's device, among other  personal information.

 These Google Android and Apple iOS apps -- one is called "Mitt's VP"  and the other "Obama for America" -- are both available through the  official Apple and Android app stores and are intended to give the  presidential campaigns a closer connection to potential voters. But  according to Dodi Glenn, GFI's product manager for the VIPRE  anti-malware consumer product line, both the Obama and Romney apps  extend the ability to monitor and control the user's tablet or  smartphone a little too far.

 The Romney app is designed to give that campaign the ability to  activate the device camera and turn on the audio like an open mike,  Glenn points out. Both the Romney and Obama apps can read the user's  contacts and upload them. And both can exploit GPS functions in devices  with GPS chips. "Both have the ability to capture GPS data," he says.

 [Slideshow: Sneaky Apps for Sneaky People]

 The "Obama for America" app takes geolocation data to the greater  extreme, he points out. The Obama app allows for the presentation of a  U.S. map where Democrat-registered voters are displayed as blue flags in  the neighborhood where they live. The Obama app encourages supporters  to canvas neighbors to get them to vote, says Glenn. He says he finds it  all a "little creepy."

 

"They  want you to go to the neighbors, it's how to volunteer for the  campaign," Glenn surmises. The nation's political-party voter  registration information is readily available to political campaigns and  his long been widely used for targeted political advertising via  telephone calls and regular mail asking for donations, for example. But  even though personal names aren't being displayed on the Obama for  America app map, Glenn says he finds it disconcerting to see GPS data  used in a modern political campaign in this way on user smartphones and  tablets.

 Like Brill, Glenn also is inclined to encourage users to say no to GPS data collection on their devices. He notes it's fairly standard for apps to ask permission to collect it, and people routinely say yes, perhaps not knowing what they're really agreeing to  with GPS. There is definitely a privacy issue related to taking a  photo, publishing it online with the geotagging data embedded in it, he  adds.

 "It also boils down to being careful what you download," he concludes.

 Ellen Messmer is senior editor at Network World, an IDG  publication and website, where she covers news and technology trends  related to information security. Twitter: @MessmerE. Email:  emessmer@nww.com.