The US Defense Department has confirmed that adversaries have targeted and monitored military personnel serving on the battlefield using commercial location data, the latest demonstration of how information collected from phones and computers can be misused to track and target individuals.
In a letter Shared with TechCrunch by Sen. Ron Wyden, US Central Command said it was aware of hostile actors using purchased location data to track US service members.
“USCENTCOM has received multiple threat reports related to the adversarial exploitation of commercial location data to target or monitor U.S. personnel in theater,” the letter reads.
The letter did not provide examples or details, and a Defense Department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
reuters first reported News on Thursday.
Location data is often collected from phones and computers through online advertising, which is then purchased by data brokers, who then sell the data on the open market. Governments and militaries, including the United States, have purchased this data in the past without obtaining a warrant. In recent years, the FBI Consumers warned Using ad blockers as a way to reduce the amount of data that can be collected by apps, websites, and other software.
Wyden told Reuters it was time to “start considering the edtech industry as a national security threat.”
