A bipartisan group of lawmakers is raising alarms over the vulnerability of U.S. military personnel to foreign surveillance due to commercially available location data. This concern was highlighted in a letter to the Pentagon’s Chief Information Officer, Kirsten Davies, led by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C. The lawmakers emphasized that the Pentagon has not taken adequate steps to protect troops from the threat posed by the collection and sale of personal information, including cell phone location data, by data brokers.
Exploitation of Commercial Data
The issue centers around the commercial data broker industry, which collects and sells location information generated by smartphones, apps, and advertising networks. According to U.S. Central Command, adversaries have exploited this data to target or surveil American military personnel overseas. The lawmakers’ letter underscores the need for the Pentagon to prioritize this threat and implement common-sense cyber defenses.
Despite longstanding recommendations from federal cybersecurity experts, advertising identifiers remain active on government-issued devices, allowing adversaries to track military personnel. The lawmakers urged the Pentagon to disable these identifiers and issue guidance for personnel to do the same on personal devices used overseas or on military installations.
Historical Context and Ongoing Concerns
The Pentagon has been aware of the security implications of commercially available location data for years. In 2018, the fitness-tracking app Strava inadvertently revealed the locations and movement patterns of military personnel through a global heat map. Similar concerns have arisen with other fitness and location-based applications, prompting the War Department to issue guidance restricting their use in operational areas. However, lawmakers argue that more basic protections to limit the collection and sale of location information have not been fully implemented.
Cybersecurity experts, like Justin Sherman of Global Cyber Strategies, warn that the sale of location data poses a serious national security threat. Foreign adversaries can purchase this data from brokers and use it to identify individuals, track their movements, and build detailed profiles of their routines and activities. This not only puts military personnel at risk but also exposes their families and others in their lives.
The lawmakers’ letter raises critical questions about the extent of foreign access to commercially available data and whether existing Pentagon safeguards are sufficient to protect American troops operating in sensitive environments around the world.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
