Have Critical Data on Your Phone? US Security Agency Suggests Steps to Prevent Tracking

12. Reduce any location data you store voluntarily in cloud storage folders

13. Strategically select non-sensitive locations to access sensitive data on your device

The NSA has further affirmed that location data can be tracked even with GPS sensors disabled. Describing this, the document says, “Even if cellular service is turned off on a mobile device, Wi-Fi and BT can be used to determine a user’s location. Inconspicuous equipment (e.g., wireless sniffers) can determine signal strength and calculate location, even when the user is not actively using the wireless services. Even if all wireless radios are disabled, numerous sensors on the device provide sufficient data to calculate location. Disabling BT completely may not be possible on some devices, even when a setting to disable BT exists. When communication is restored, saved information may be transmitted.”

The body has further stated that it is not just about GPS sensors, suggesting that IoT devices linked to your email addresses, as well as social media apps, can give away critical location information. The guidance comes as an official acknowledgement of the level of surveillance that is scraped off smartphones, and underlines the key steps that you as a user need to take to at least reduce how you can be tracked based on just your smartphone.