Hyderabad: Movements of any person using a smartphone can be tracked by any one, criminals included, as little as a few hundred rupees. With no clear guidelines about advertisement platforms on social media, anyone can buy advertising space cheaply and deliver it to select persons or thousands of them at one go and spy on their movements.
Research led by the University of Washington tested if it was possible to exploit the existing online advertising infrastructure for personal surveillance and proved that this can be done.
The report states that anyone, from a foreign intelligence agent to a jealous spouse, can easily sign up with a large internet advertising company and on a fairly modest budget use these ecosystems to track another individual’s behaviour. Researchers discovered that the ad buyer can see when a person visits a predetermined location within 10 minutes of the person’s arrival. They also discovered that individuals who purchase the ads could see what types of apps their target was using, and thus be in possession of vulnerable personal information.
“It can be possible with more and more social platforms offering advertisement services to clients. The advertisement can cost between Rs 10 and Rs 10 lakh, depending upon requirements,” says Rakshit Tandon, security consultant and director of the Council of Information Security and Cyber Security. Mr Tandon explains that the mobile phone user should be careful about the applications he or she downloads.
Several applications ask for the user’s permission to track his/her location. “The mobile phone user should be careful before giving permission for location tracking. Most of the applications ask for permission and there is also a provision in the phone settings,” he said. Inspector Mohammed Riyazuddin of the Cyber Crime unit, Rachakonda, said that not only can the advertiser track the movement of the mobile phone user, but by sending an embedded malware, browse all his activities.
He advises that the phone user should log in the location only when necessary and later log out. “So far, no case of anyone tracking people using advertisements has come to our notice. But it is advisable to be cautious when using phones or laptops,” the inspector said.
