Well, the smell is in the air if Ad-Tech smells like Li-Po batteries and well-oiled servomotors. In their story "Drones Spying on Cell Phone Users for Advertisers," Hacker News tells how AdNear is collecting data from your cell phone using flying drones. This is not like the government's program of flying a cell tower around acting as a Man In The Middle for your calls. Instead, AdNear looks for Wi-Fi hotspot broadcast requests your phone makes. Although they say the data is anonymous, the collection of Wi-Fi hot spots to which you have authorized your phone to connect makes for a pretty good fingerprint. Furthermore, since your phone is broadcasting the names of these, a hot-spot can respond as if it was that network (spoofing the SSID) and see if your phone connects. If your phone had previously connected to an open network, the drone *can* MITM your Wi-Fi. Of course, AdNear promises they would never do such a thing. The funny thing is that this made the news only because they are now using drones. I do not recall very much press given to their doing the exact same thing by other means. From the web site: Till now AdNear has been using bikes, cars, trains, and even walking up the stairs to collect data including Wi-Fi and cell tower signals. This wireless data helps AdNear’s location platform precisely locate devices without the need of GPS or operator assistance. Today we started initial tests with drones to collect data. And the results have been fantastic! Besides, this turns out to be the most efficient mode. And this: For brands, this would mean more data points for accurate audiences and more location points for consumer insights and targeting. For us, this means a ton of fun! When they say "consumer targeting" am I the only one who can practically feel the bulls-eye on my back? Or do others here experience that as well? AdNear: https://adnear.com/february2015/experimenting-with-drones-for-data-collection.php Hacker News http://thehackernews.com/2015/03/drone-cell-phone-spy.html Kind regards, -- T.Rob I have availability! For a good time (with IBM MQ) call: T.Robert Wyatt, Managing partner IoPT Consulting, LLC +1 704-443-TROB (8762) Voice/Text +44 (0) 8714 089 546 Voice |
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