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U.S. military revising its rules after fitness trackers exposed sensitive data

washingtonpost.com

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Re: U.S. military revising its rules after fitness trackers exposed sensitive data

#11

Post by alien_robot »

meritt wrote: post #8
mikestew wrote: post #6

One popular route on a base in Iraq has been nicknamed “Base Perimeter” by the U.S. runners who regularly use it. I'm truly gobsmacked that it never occurred to anyone that this might pose a problem. Maybe not the 19 year old grunt who signed up because getting a master's in CS wasn't in his future, but c'mon, there isn't someone responsible for preventing data leakage? This is not some corner case, or some side-chan…

> Maybe not the 19 year old grunt who signed up because getting a master's in CS wasn't in his future Can we please drop the elitist attitude and explicit assertion that enlisted military personnel are stupid and that CS students are intelligent.

This is getting down-voted but it's fair criticism of the parent comment. As a former Army grunt-turned-dev, I can personally verify that there are many very smart military personnel. They do deserve some blame for failing to imagine how their data could be used by our adversaries. It's a major OPSEC issue, no doubt, and a great learning opportunity for the military. Troops on the ground are adopting consumer tech too quickly for the DoD to keep up. In my experience in wartime operations overseas, this is often a failure to see the forest for the trees; that is, you're too involved in operations on the ground to see the danger of the (seemingly) innocent technology you're using to make your life easier, better, etc.

Re: U.S. military revising its rules after fitness trackers exposed sensitive data

#12

Post by mathiasben »

jacquesm wrote: post #9

I saw this unfolding bit by bit and thought: Wow, these people have not been paying attention during the AOL 'anonymized' research database fiasco. Let's wait to see how long it will take before someone figures out how to ID the security detail jogging with a president somewhere.

look at the whitehouse lawn in the heat map, there's what looks like data from someone walking the yard.

Re: U.S. military revising its rules after fitness trackers exposed sensitive data

#13

Post by mathiasben »

msrpotus wrote: post #10
mathiasben wrote: post #7

What activity would generate the tracks in the middle of the ocean? As I understand Strava whenever I switch it on it tracks my activity at that moment until I switch it off. Looking at the heat maps I get the impression that there is always on data being tracked in addition to those that are intending to track a specific activity. Do fitbit worn 24/7 submit data constantly to strava?

Running on cruise ships, maybe?

there's tracks from what looks like the Bermuda-Newport yacht race.

Re: U.S. military revising its rules after fitness trackers exposed sensitive data

#14

Post by mathiasben »

mathiasben wrote: post #7

What activity would generate the tracks in the middle of the ocean? As I understand Strava whenever I switch it on it tracks my activity at that moment until I switch it off. Looking at the heat maps I get the impression that there is always on data being tracked in addition to those that are intending to track a specific activity. Do fitbit worn 24/7 submit data constantly to strava?

the more I look over the heat map the more I think that there's always on data being tracked out here. there's NO WAY this is just running and cycling routes.

Re: U.S. military revising its rules after fitness trackers exposed sensitive data

#15

Post by mikestew »

meritt wrote: post #8
mikestew wrote: post #6

One popular route on a base in Iraq has been nicknamed “Base Perimeter” by the U.S. runners who regularly use it. I'm truly gobsmacked that it never occurred to anyone that this might pose a problem. Maybe not the 19 year old grunt who signed up because getting a master's in CS wasn't in his future, but c'mon, there isn't someone responsible for preventing data leakage? This is not some corner case, or some side-chan…

> Maybe not the 19 year old grunt who signed up because getting a master's in CS wasn't in his future Can we please drop the elitist attitude and explicit assertion that enlisted military personnel are stupid and that CS students are intelligent.

I never brought up intelligence, I brought up the fact that I don't expect a Marine boot camp graduate with no specialized education to be the one thinking about these hard questions. Just like you don't want me, someone who has only fired an AR15 a few times, covering your ass on patrol. But despite your protestations to the contrary, the underlying assumption in my statement was that the military has someone on board, intelligent or not, who has been trained specifically to think around these very topics. That someone should not be a 19 year old kid who's only training consists of handling a rifle and whatever else combat troops are trained to do. There should be someone else who tells that kid, "hey, take off that FitBit before you head out."

Re: U.S. military revising its rules after fitness trackers exposed sensitive data

#16

Post by meritt »

mikestew wrote: post #15
meritt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe not the 19 year old grunt who signed up because getting a master's in CS wasn't in his future Can we please drop the elitist attitude and explicit assertion that enlisted military personnel are stupid and that CS students are intelligent.

I never brought up intelligence, I brought up the fact that I don't expect a Marine boot camp graduate with no specialized education to be the one thinking about these hard questions. Just like you don't want me, someone who has only fired an AR15 a few times, covering your ass on patrol. But despite your protestations to the contrary, the underlying assumption in my statement was that the military has someone on boa…

> who signed up because getting a master's in CS wasn't in his future

Why did you make this statement? How did that help reinforce your point?

I don't disagree with your broader point at all, but I am annoyed by the fact that you made a causal connection between enlisting in the military because "because getting a master's in CS wasn't in his future"

Re: U.S. military revising its rules after fitness trackers exposed sensitive data

#17

Post by mikestew »

meritt wrote: post #16
mikestew wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never brought up intelligence, I brought up the fact that I don't expect a Marine boot camp graduate with no specialized education to be the one thinking about these hard questions. Just like you don't want me, someone who has only fired an AR15 a few times, covering your ass on patrol. But despite your protestations to the contrary, the underlying assumption in my statement was that the military has someone on boa…

> who signed up because getting a master's in CS wasn't in his future Why did you make this statement? How did that help reinforce your point? I don't disagree with your broader point at all, but I am annoyed by the fact that you made a causal connection between enlisting in the military because "because getting a master's in CS wasn't in his future"

casual connection between enlisting in the military because "because getting a master's in CS wasn't in his future"

"Casual connection"? There was a direct connection with quite a few folks I grew up with. Because college costs money, which they didn't have. Argue all you want, I've seen it with my own eyes. You're the only one implying anything about intelligence.

Re: U.S. military revising its rules after fitness trackers exposed sensitive data

#18

Post by mulmen »

mathiasben wrote: post #12
jacquesm wrote: post #9

I saw this unfolding bit by bit and thought: Wow, these people have not been paying attention during the AOL 'anonymized' research database fiasco. Let's wait to see how long it will take before someone figures out how to ID the security detail jogging with a president somewhere.

look at the whitehouse lawn in the heat map, there's what looks like data from someone walking the yard.

I looked this up on the map and the only activity I see is in The Ellipse and Lafayette Square. I see no activity at all around the White house itself or the South Lawn. Has the data since been scrubbed?

The Pentagon is also entirely dark.

Re: U.S. military revising its rules after fitness trackers exposed sensitive data

#19

Post by mathiasben »

mulmen wrote: post #18
mathiasben wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

look at the whitehouse lawn in the heat map, there's what looks like data from someone walking the yard.

I looked this up on the map and the only activity I see is in The Ellipse and Lafayette Square. I see no activity at all around the White house itself or the South Lawn. Has the data since been scrubbed? The Pentagon is also entirely dark.

this is what I see when I look at the south lawn https://imgur.com/DslRELO

Re: U.S. military revising its rules after fitness trackers exposed sensitive data

#20

Post by netsharc »

mathiasben wrote: post #12
jacquesm wrote: post #9

I saw this unfolding bit by bit and thought: Wow, these people have not been paying attention during the AOL 'anonymized' research database fiasco. Let's wait to see how long it will take before someone figures out how to ID the security detail jogging with a president somewhere.

look at the whitehouse lawn in the heat map, there's what looks like data from someone walking the yard.

Obama wears/wore a Fitbit. But the tracks on top of the WH look like intermediate paths, e.g. someone jogs past the SE corner at e.g. 9:20, and the GPS signal is lost, and then they are spotted again at 9:40 at the NW corner, then the line would be drawn across the WH.

Like any other data breach, it speaks for the customers who want offline, non-cloud solutions...

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