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Norway: Soldiers' location history found in data sold by Tamoco

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Re: Norway: Soldiers' location history found in data sold by Tamoco

#61
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they couldn’t and just sent the SMS to a lot of random numbers. Those that belonged to mothers at the frontline naturally tried to call their sons.

Right. Still curious about monitoring cell activity only during calls. Thinking if you can monitor the cells, just look at the front line cells for comms.

They didn't know where the front line was?

Re: Norway: Soldiers' location history found in data sold by Tamoco

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of this rumour about how someone used tinder to triangulate opponent units during an exercise and arty them to shit. Supposedly Finns outwitting Norwegians, but is a anon text so who knows: https://imgur.com/gallery/bySUH

Reminds me of a story I heard: In a conflict, Russia sent SMS to the mothers of Ukrainian(?) soldiers, informing them of their son’s death (pretending to be the Ukrainian government/military). The mothers, distraught, called their son’s cellphone. The increased, clustered cellphone activity near the frontline gave away the unit positions. Shortly after, Russian bombs dropped.

Is it typical that soldiers carry mobile phones? It seems like it would open them up to all kinds of possible problems, and I can't think of a reason you would need a cell phone in a conflict when you have a radio, right?

Re: Norway: Soldiers' location history found in data sold by Tamoco

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. Still curious about monitoring cell activity only during calls. Thinking if you can monitor the cells, just look at the front line cells for comms.

They didn't know where the front line was?

You're involved in a conflict and you don't know where the front line is?

Re: Norway: Soldiers' location history found in data sold by Tamoco

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of a story I heard: In a conflict, Russia sent SMS to the mothers of Ukrainian(?) soldiers, informing them of their son’s death (pretending to be the Ukrainian government/military). The mothers, distraught, called their son’s cellphone. The increased, clustered cellphone activity near the frontline gave away the unit positions. Shortly after, Russian bombs dropped.

Is it typical that soldiers carry mobile phones? It seems like it would open them up to all kinds of possible problems, and I can't think of a reason you would need a cell phone in a conflict when you have a radio, right?

From the volume of photos and videos from US, UK, etc that were based in Afganistan, Iraq etc you can deduce a smartphone is quite normal in those forces, so I would assume the same in Ukrainian forces.

They might not wear them out on patrol or manoeuvres, but back at their tents/barracks, I would assume some if not all have their personal phones. You only need a couple to track them.

I also read once Strave/Fitbit type trackers was rife at army bases and used to work out patrol routes.

Re: Norway: Soldiers' location history found in data sold by Tamoco

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't know where the front line was?

You're involved in a conflict and you don't know where the front line is?

They knew where the front line was, they were trying to learn where the Ukrainian forces were positioned along that front line.

Re: Norway: Soldiers' location history found in data sold by Tamoco

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're involved in a conflict and you don't know where the front line is?

They knew where the front line was, they were trying to learn where the Ukrainian forces were positioned along that front line.

Right, so back to the question - why not just monitor front line cells for activity, which i think can be done without making calls?

Re: Norway: Soldiers' location history found in data sold by Tamoco

#68

This reminds me of an experiment I'd like someone to run on Strava. They had this big scandal some time ago where People identified US military bases simply by having a lot of activity in an otherwise empty area. Now they've added some mojo to prevent this but still sell location data. So how about running the same attack but instead of using the browser and their own website just use the bought location data. I susp…

> Now they've added some mojo to prevent this but still sell location data.

Strava publish a "heat map" that shows aggregated activity of all their users. It's useful for finding common running/biking routes in areas you don't know well. That's how the military bases were found.

https://www.strava.com/heatmap#7.00/-120.90000/38.36000/hot/...

EDIT: I forgot that Strava do sell heatmap data to government transportation departments and such so I fixed the comment.

Re: Norway: Soldiers' location history found in data sold by Tamoco

#69
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is sinister genius. Do you have a citation link? I’d love to read more.

That same "sinister genius" has and is still playing out in our elections right now.

Sure why not? The US does that same thing so what is the problem?

Re: Norway: Soldiers' location history found in data sold by Tamoco

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They knew where the front line was, they were trying to learn where the Ukrainian forces were positioned along that front line.

Right, so back to the question - why not just monitor front line cells for activity, which i think can be done without making calls?

I'm guessing: they needed a way to distinguish the troops from the civilians living in the area. By triggering a mass amount of calls to frontline soldiers, they made their positions light up in front of the overall background.
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