USA Today: Why geolocation apps can be dangerous
USA Today reports on a new paper (“Geolocation: Risk, Issues and Strategies“) by ISACA, an information systems nonprofit, concerning privacy problems that can arise from the use of location apps.
Some 28% of U.S. adults use location-based mobile apps from Facebook, Groupon, Google and others and that number is expected to grow significantly, according to ISACA’s new white paper, “Geolocation: Risk, Issues and Strategies.”
Geolocation apps that pinpoint a user’s physical location have opened up numerous new business models. But they also introduce unprecedented new risks, says Ernst & Young partner Marios Damianides, a past ISACA international president.
When a user’s gender, race, occupation and financial history are combined with geolocation tags, the data can be used by criminals to identify an individual’s present or future location. This raises the potential of threats ranging from burglary and theft to stalking and kidnapping. [...]
ISACA unveiled a five-step best practices list under the acronym ROUTE:
- Read mobile app agreements to see what information you are sharing.
- Only enable geolocation when the benefits outweigh the risks.
- Understand that others can track your current and past locations.
- Think before posting tagged photos to social-media sites.
- Embrace the technology, and educate yourself and others.
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October 3rd, 2011 at 8:09 pm
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November 2nd, 2011 at 11:30 am
Security is key especially if you are telling people where you are now. Insurance companies are now not paying out if you check in abroad and then have your house burgled. The shift should be towards services that focus on where you have been rather than where you are now.