- Journalists used data brokers to follow EU commissioners in their daily lives
- This used free samples from brokers, with 5,800 location pings
- This information would be invaluable in espionage campaigns targeting the EU.
If you’re worried that your phone is collecting outrageous amounts of data that could be used for nefarious purposes, you’re not alone — and, actually, you’re not wrong either. Journalists have just revealed how easy it is to carry out sophisticated reconnaissance missions on European commissioners with nothing but information openly exchanged from data brokers.
A coalition of journalists used preliminary data from a data broker to determine the exact locations of hundreds of EU officials – with more than 5,800 location pings inside the European Parliament from 756 devices.
The collective was able to establish “travel profiles” for EU employees, in which movements could be traced between official accommodation, between the European Parliament, supermarkets, restaurants, religious buildings, parties, etc.
Privacy is dead
For most of us, this news will be an unsurprising but heinous invasion of personal digital privacy and a warning about the extent of mass surveillance carried out by private companies in the name of advertising (or perhaps something even more sinister).
But for EU officials, there is a very real additional consideration of safety and security.
Most of us won’t have to plan our escape routes in the event of a political attack, or take mitigation measures to protect ourselves from espionage campaigns – but this research reveals that EU officials may need to take data privacy more seriously – and quickly.
These are not abstract threats either. The advent of the war in Ukraine has seen a surge in espionage campaigns targeting Western allied states, and Chinese hackers are targeting European diplomats with Windows’ zero-day flaw in cyber intrusions.
Those responsible are being targeted, and technology and the commercialization of personal data have made it much easier for foreign or domestic adversaries.
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