US troops can still be tracked by purchased location data, and Congress wants to know why
2026-09-06 09:06Cybersecurity🔥 42.2 heat score
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U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Pat Harris requested that the Defense Department’s Inspector General investigate why military prevention measures failed to completely prevent the tracking of U.S. military personnel through the purchase of location data. Although multiple departments have disabled advertising identifiers on government equipment, location data about U.S. military personnel can still be obtained through commercial applications and SDKs. Wyden and Harris noted that the Pentagon was aware of this threat since 2016 and called for further measures, including requiring all personal devices brought into facilities to disable advertising identifiers. Currently, various military branches have confirmed the disabling of such identifiers on government equipment, but the risk of data leakage still exists. Experts believe that while this measure can prevent U.S. military data from being sold in bulk by non-Western advertising companies, the risk of location tracking has not been completely eliminated due to the lack of registration of Russian and Chinese manufacturers and the collection of data through partners.
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Pat Harris demanded that the Defense Department’s Inspector General investigate why military prevention policies using purchased location data for tracking failed to be fully effective. Although multiple departments have disabled advertising identifiers on government equipment, location data about U.S. military personnel can still be obtained through commercial applications and SDKs. Wyden and Harris noted that the Pentagon was aware of this threat since 2016 and called for further measures, including requiring all personal devices brought into facilities to disable advertising identifiers. Currently, various military branches have confirmed that related identifiers are disabled on government equipment, but the risk of data leakage still exists. Expert Zack Edwards said that while this measure can prevent U.S. military data from being sold in bulk to advertising technology companies outside the West by data buyers, the risk of location tracking has not been completely eliminated due to the unregistered status of Russian and Chinese manufacturers and the data collection through partners.