The U.S. military is buying location data about Muslims retrieved by Muslim dating and prayer apps, per @VICE. Apps include Muslim Pro
BREAKING NEWS:
“The US military is buying the data of people around the world, harvested from innocuous-seeming apps. The most popular is a Muslim prayer & Quran app that has 98 million downloads worldwide”
As per NSA’s advice, the following general mitigations can be used for those with location sensitivities:
• Disable location services settings on the device.
• Disable radios when they are not actively in use: disable BT and turn off Wi-Fi if these capabilities are not needed.
Use Airplane Mode when the device is not in use. Ensure BT and Wi-Fi are disabled when Airplane Mode is engaged.
• Apps should be given as few permissions as possible:
Set privacy settings to ensure apps are not using or sharing location data.
Avoid using apps related to location if possible, since these apps inherently expose user location data. If used, location privacy/permission settings for such apps should be set to either not allow location data usage or, at most, allow location data usage only while using the app. Examples of apps that relate to location are maps, compasses, traffic apps, fitness apps, apps for finding local restaurants, and shopping apps.
• Disable advertising permissions to the greatest extent possible:
Set privacy settings to limit ad tracking, noting that these restrictions are at the vendor’s discretion.
Reset the advertising ID for the device on a regular basis. At a minimum, this should be on a weekly basis.
• Turn off settings (typically known as FindMy or Find My Device settings) that allow a lost, stolen, or misplaced device to be tracked.
• Minimise web-browsing on the device as much as possible, and set browser privacy/permission location settings to not allow location data usage.
• Use an anonymizing Virtual Private Network (VPN) to help obscure location.
• Minimise the amount of data with location information that is stored in the cloud, if possible.
If it is critical that location is not revealed for a particular mission, consider the following recommendations:
• Determine a non-sensitive location where devices with wireless capabilities can be secured prior to the start of any activities. Ensure that the mission site cannot be predicted from this location.
• Leave all devices with any wireless capabilities (including personal devices) at this non-sensitive location. Turning off the device may not be sufficient if a device has been compromised.
• For mission transportation, use vehicles without built-in wireless communication capabilities, or turn off the capabilities, if possible.
Source:
Limiting Location Data Exposure
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7013480-CSI-LIMITING-LOCATION-DATA-EXPOSURE-FINAL.html#document/p1