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Beware of find-my-phone, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, NSA tells mobile users:
The National Security Agency is recommending that some government workers and people generally concerned about privacy turn off find-my-phone, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth whenever those services are not needed, as well as limit location data usage by apps.
"Location data can be extremely valuable and must be protected," an advisory published on Tuesday stated. "It can reveal details about the number of users in a location, user and supply movements, daily routines (user and organizational), and can expose otherwise unknown associations between users and locations."
NSA officials acknowledged that geolocation functions are enabled by design and are essential to mobile communications. The officials also admit that the recommended safeguards are impractical for most users. Mapping, location tracking of lost or stolen phones, automatically connecting to Wi-Fi networks, and fitness trackers and apps are just a few of the things that require fine-grained locations to work at all.
But these features come at a cost. Adversaries may be able to tap into location data that app developers, advertising services, and other third parties receive from apps and then store in massive databases. Adversaries may also subscribe to services such as those offered by Securus and LocationSmart, two services that The New York Times and KrebsOnSecurity documented, respectively. Both companies either tracked or sold locations of customers collected by the cell towers of major cellular carriers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @01:37PM (4 children)
That the NSA is beginning to approach my level of paranoia WRT smartphones.
I disable bluetooth unless I'm actually using it (pretty rare).
I disable automatic connections to WiFi networks, and usually disable WiFi altogether when I leave my residence.
I not only disable Google Location Services, but GPS as well.
Given that it's a *phone*, I do like to receive phone calls on it, so I generally don't turn off the radio (or the phone -- the battery isn't meant for routine removal), but that allows my service provider to deliver incoming calls and complete outgoing calls. It's a trade-off, but like I said -- it's a *phone*.
I use encrypted messaging (Signal) for texting and voice calls where possible (sadly, most people don't use similar tools).
I also limit the apps I install, as well as the things I do with those apps. Nothing that has anything to do with my financial/personal life is *ever* done on my phone.
Even so, that's not satisfactory to me. But I limit functionality as much as I can while preserving my ability to use my device.
All that said, I'm glad to see that the NSA has publicly acknowledged what I've (and other folks) known for years.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:01PM (2 children)
The NSA is a waste of taxpayer money. If their existence is predicated on them making these recommendations, along with so many other redundant government agencies, then this is not a good use of my taxpayer money. I'm disappointed at how much taxpayer money is wasted on this.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:53PM (1 child)
Making such recommendations isn't the primary purpose of the NSA. In fact it's a tertiary function at best.
I suggest you educate yourself [wikipedia.org] before spouting off a bunch of half-baked bullshit.
Note, that the above statement is orthogonal to whether or not the NSA and its programs are a good use for taxpayer dollars.
But predicating the agency's value on a minor consideration like this is ignorant at best, and disingenuous at worst.
If you disagree with the activities/charter of the NSA, at least make the premise for that disagreement somewhat related to the agency's *core* functions.
Your conclusion may or may not be valid. I take no position one way or another. However, your argument is weak and completely unrelated to the inappropriate stuff the NSA does.
One would hope that you can do better than that.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @08:19AM
Why is the NSA making these recommendations? To grandstand. To bring positive attention to themselves and distract us from other issues. Make themselves look like they are really concerned for the public. To justify their existence.
I don't need the NSA to grandstand about stuff that I don't need them to tell me. I need them to go away, along with many other agencies that are a waste of taxpayer money, because they are wasting my taxpayer money. This grandstanding does not justify the taxpayer money they are wasting, it does not justify their existence, it does not make them look good, and it does not distract me from the fact that they are a total waste of my taxpayer money. I'm not distracted.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @06:52PM
you think you do, but those firmwares are likely closed source shit, so they can do what they want regardless of your GUI choices.