Security News > 2022 > July > The weaponizing of smartphone location data on the battlefield

How each side collects the adversary's smartphone location data and shields their own can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Because mobile app location data is often sold to commercial data brokers and then repackaged and sold to individual customers, a country can access such a database and then pick out the phones likely belonging to soldiers.

Of all the signals given off by smartphones in the normal course of operation, location data is perhaps the most valuable during battle.

A cluster of troops in a given location may signal an important location.

The obvious risk to soldiers is that their location data can be used by the enemy to direct targeted attacks against them.

To counter the capture of location data from soldiers' smartphones, many countries have understandably banned the presence of these devices on the battlefield.

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/13/weaponizing-smartphone-location-data-battlefield/