How to Protect Your Location Data From Security Breaches
By now, most of us are aware that – thanks to a regular stream of data breaches at companies large and small – at least some of our personal information inevitably ends up online. The latest of these includes user location data from advertising apps, from Tinder and Grindr to Candy Crush and MyFitnessPal, not to mention VPN apps and various period and pregnancy trackers.
The leak was the result of a hack of Gravy Analytics, a data broker that collates location data from all mobile devices (including millions of iPhone and Android users) and sells it to other companies. As reported by TechCrunch , the dataset contains more than 30 million location points, including medical clinics, military bases and government buildings, for devices around the world. Worse, the data could potentially be de-anonymized and used to track people’s past movements.
Location data was leaked from hundreds of apps displaying advertisements . These services receive information about your device (such as make and model type, and IP address) in a process known as real-time bidding , which helps determine which targeted ads you’ll see. According to 404 Media , which reported on the Gravy Analytics hack, this can happen without the knowledge of either the user or the app developer.
How to protect your location data from future breaches
While you can’t prevent data breaches, you can take steps to protect your location data from advertisers who collect your data and brokers who sell it in the future. As you browse the Internet, an ad blocker such as Privacy Badger can prevent websites from loading and displaying ads, and can prevent your online activity from being tracked.
On mobile devices, you’ll also need to disable mobile advertising identifiers (MAIDs), data points that can be used to create a map of your device’s movement, and limit app tracking permissions. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a detailed guide on how to do this .
Remove adding tracking IDs on Android
Android users can go to Settings > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Advertising and tap Remove Advertising ID to permanently remove your maid. You can also check and revoke app tracking permissions in Settings > Privacy & Security > Privacy Controls > Permission Manager .
Remove Adding Tracking IDs on iPhone
On iOS, review the apps that have access to your ID through Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking . Turn off the Allow apps to request tracking or removal of permissions for individual apps. You can also prevent new app installations from being tracked. Finally, turn off targeted Apple advertising in Settings > Privacy > Apple Ads by turning off Personalized Ads .
The Electronic Frontier Foundation also notes that using Airplane mode will prevent apps from sending your location to data brokers in real time, so if you’re concerned about maintaining privacy en route to a sensitive destination, you should download maps so you can use navigation during the flight. offline.