Tech

Apple only warns about 1/3 of cases being tracked by AirTag

At the end of April last year, Apple launched AirTag as an accessory to help users keep track of their belongings, but not long after, it quickly became the focus of controversies about privacy and security. safe, when it is used by bad guys to spy on others. Apple has been constantly updating features to make AirTag more secure, but it doesn’t seem to be enough.

Motherboard recently shared an analysis of 150 police reports, showing that the measures Apple created to protect users from being tracked by AirTag only worked in a third of cases.

Many women are tracked by AirTag, Apple only warns about 1/3 of cases - Photo 1.

While AirTag may have been used by stalkers, reports from eight police departments show that only a third of victims received alerts with notifications on their phones.

Motherboard said it obtained AirTag-related file data over the last eight months from dozens of the largest US police departments and obtained records from eight police departments.

Of the 150 total police reports that mentioned AirTag, there were 50 cases where women called the police because they received a notification that their location was being tracked by an AirTag they did not own.

Among them, 25 people believe that the culprit is someone they know, such as an ex-boyfriend, husband, boss, etc., who they really suspect have installed AirTag on cars to track and harass. Some even testified that they directly saw someone they knew attaching an AirTag to their car.

AirTag has always had a feature to alert iPhone users if a strange AirTag is near them. However, anyone who doesn’t use an iPhone or Apple device will find it very difficult to tell because they are in a passive position, waiting for the AirTag to make a sound, or if using Android Apple has an app to scan the AirTag, but it does. does not work automatically, but the user has to activate it manually every time he wants to scan.

Many women are tracked by AirTag, Apple only warns about 1/3 of cases - Photo 2.

Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Motherboard: “It really makes no sense to release a new device without considering it being used in a domestic violence situation. In particular, the blind spot that Apple encounters is users outside of its ecosystem.”

However, Galperin added that these reports show that when AirTag’s alerts are actually active, it’s something that could be presented to police as solid evidence of being spied on.

Many women are tracked by AirTag, Apple only warns about 1/3 of cases - Photo 3.

Some experts say that what Apple can do is still not enough. Albert Fox Cahn, executive director at Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, said: “It was too late. Features that help prevent the misuse of AirTag usually only notify the target after the behavior has been committed and their location has been tracked. No debugging software can prevent AirTag from being abused. As long as Apple continues to sell a cheap, easy-to-hide tracking device, stalkers will continue to use it. The only solution is to stop selling and supporting AirTag. This product is too dangerous to be on the market.”

Many women are tracked by AirTag, Apple only warns about 1/3 of cases - Photo 4.

If the bad guys don’t stop using these devices for harassment and Apple doesn’t have an effective way to protect users of other ecosystems, it may be on the manufacturers to figure out how to do this. makes AirTag more secure. Last week, 9to5Google discovered that Google is working on “Unknown Device Alerts” and “Unknown Tracking Tag Detection Notifications” in the safety settings for Android devices.

“What I look forward to the most is to see the trackers manufacturers agree on a standard that can be implemented in the operating system, so that anyone can detect the active tracker at all times, automatically, regardless of the type of phone they have,” Galperin said. “I think that’s the only effective way to reduce the mess we’re in.”

Experts say it’s up to law enforcement to consider stalking, stealthy stalking, a more dangerous practice.

Reference: Motherboard


https://genk.vn/apple-chi-canh-bao-duoc-1-3-truong-hop-bi-theo-doi-boi-airtag-20220407194147512.chn

You are reading the article Apple only warns about 1/3 of cases being tracked by AirTag
at Blogtuan.info – Source: genk.vn – Read the original article here

Back to top button