Bluetooth tracker hidden in a postcard and mailed to a warship exposed its location — $5 gadget put a $585 million Dutch ship at risk for 24 hours

Comments

• RedWeasel@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  That is so disturbing and amazing at the same time. Does the US Navy screen their mail for trackers? Other countries. What about the sailors as they board? There was the story about the starlink router on a ship last year I think. So …

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  • sleepmode@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Recently a Navy carrier’s location was revealed by someone doing laps on their running app.

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    • reddig33@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Because they didn’t learn from the last time this happened. In 2017.

      theguardian.com/…/fitness-tracking-app-gives-away…

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    • onlinepersona@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Soldiers locations have been exposed om the battlefield by dating apps. Yeah, the army doesn’t screen shit.

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    • paraphrand@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      That’s a classic one. I’m surprised it’s still happening.

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• errer@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  How the fuck does this Bluetooth device transmit its location over miles through a fucking steel aircraft carrier and my headphones disconnect from my phone 3 feet away all the time?

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  • logi@piefed.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Both Apple and Google run these tracking networks where a nearby phone can relay the tags location back to the network,l.

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    • InFerNo@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      So this vessel has some local wifi with internet access private phones can connect to?

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    • LordMayor@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      But, why would they track some random $10 Amazon tag?

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  • Tikiporch@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Airtag or adjacent thing, I guess?

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  • LordMayor@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yeah, there’s a big piece of this puzzle missing.

    If it was an Apple or Google tag it would make sense. They have systems for tracking those but I imagine they must have some kind of limits.

    Anyway, this a $10 random tag from Amazon. Why would any phone report its location? I imagine it has to either be: officially recognized by Apple or Google; spoofing Apple or Google ids; or being picked up by some third-party app.

    No article I’ve see has explained how it was tracked.

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