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IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device
- chadp 15y agoSomeone should make an app for jailbroken phones to disable this location logging (or delete it regularly).. many would likely pay for it!
- ChuckMcM 15y agoInteresting idea, although I actually like just injecting noise (add say 500nm to all of the co-ordinates or some such) which would basically corrupt the database that this was being injected into. On a more interesting note if you put '); droptable; into your file could you delete the receiving database? A whole new vector for SQL injection hacks I suspect.
- calloc 15y agoAccording to http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2467895 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2467895 it is being used to get a faster fix for Locations based applications, so doing that would remove the ability for that work.
- desigooner 15y agoIt might not be directly related but there was a news story on CNET [1] yesterday about cops in Michigan using a device from Cellebrite to download information from phones of people they stopped for violations that includes contacts, phone logs, messages, photographs and location history. Does Apple's decision of having such information stored on the phone unencrypted make it easy for such devices? The device claims to subvert phone passwords though. [1]http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20055431-1.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20055431-1.html
- ImprovedSilence 15y agoI've actually used that device before. It's fairly common in law enforcement and inteligence agencies, and it will take everything. Including passwords/deleted info. There is no reason for using it on a traffic stop though, that's just straight up invasion of privacy and would piss me off to no end. It's use is (and should be) for the more criminal/forensic cases.
- chadgeidel 15y agoPerhaps you could answer a question. If the phone screen is locked will this device still gather data? I assume it will.
- kovar 15y agoAnd it doesn't work on all devices out there, and doesn't fully collect the devices it does work with. Most forensics labs have multiple tools such as this, and still have issues fully collecting devices.
- huhtenberg 15y agoI wonder if that device utilizes some form of "law enforcement backdoor API", a phone analog of the "lawful intercept" in networking. Because frankly I don't understand how else it could retrieve previously deleted data from the phone.
- 15y ago
- BigZaphod 15y agoIf the man really wants your location, he can just ask the phone company.
- jeffreyg 15y ago'the man' could always get that info, sure. but now, anyone with access to your phone or computer can.
- trotsky 15y agoIncluding anyone that hacks into either, and they wouldn't even have to install anything suspicious to do location tracking or even have compromised your phone during the period they were interested in.
- ImprovedSilence 15y agoI'm not so much worried about the man, (I've given up on that battle) as much as I'm worried about the people out there who like to stick it to the man by whatever neferaous means of looting and pilliging they see fit.
- mirkules 15y agoFunny, I had to go to a location without internet access, but where I periodically have to "mark" where I am so I can reference it later. I was about to write my own app for this purpose when I saw this post. To boot, I had my iPhone on me the last few days anyway, so this will definitely come in handy. Despite the utility I got out of this, I wish we would be told about it...
- ceejayoz 15y ago> We're not sure why Apple is gathering this data, but it's clearly intentional, as the database is being restored across backups, and even device migrations. My understanding is that all data and files is persisted in that manner. Not sure why they're implying this file has been singled out.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- petewarden 15y agoThe intention was to indicate that it's not just a temporary log file that's not being deleted properly. Poorly expressed though, I agree.
- petewarden 15y agoI'll be checking in here for technical questions. The github direct link is http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/ http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/
- cjkarr 15y agoThanks for putting it online. I have a similar project not involving the iPhone logs, but I'm looking to using your visualizations to make sense of the data that I've been collecting.
- gyardley 15y agoPete, the iPhone Tracker application is showing data points in a grid-like pattern, with multiple points visible simultaneously. I haven't dug into the raw data - is that an artifact of the iPhone Tracker application, or is the raw data already rounded by Apple to fit on a grid, with multiple locations having identical timestamps? How much I care about this depends a lot on the granularity of the underlying data.
- rufo 15y agoFrom the FAQ: To make it less useful for snoops, the spatial and temporal accuracy of the data has been artificially reduced. You can only animate week-by-week even though the data is timed to the second, and if you zoom in you’ll see the points are constrained to a grid, so your exact location is not revealed. The underlying database has no such constraints, unfortunately.
- andreyf 15y agoAlthough since it's open source, it shouldn't be too hard to remove this restriction.
- fredoliveira 15y agoI just went through the code and it is indeed pretty trivial to remove both restrictions. If you want to do it, in the iPhoneTrackingAppDelegate implementation file: * Change the precision variable on line 149 to something bigger than 100 (10000 did it for me) - this will mark points in the map with higher precision: const float precision = 10000; * Change the timeBucket variable on line 180 to change the date precision (the app currently gives you weekly based data, but it can go as far a data point every second). You could also just "cheat" and change the notion of weekInSeconds: const float weekInSeconds = (7*24*60*60);
- gpambrozio 15y agoApple has been known to collect this information for a while now [1] but storing all this information in a database should not be required for this. If you tuink about how much information you have on your phone, if somebody has access to it or to your backups, I think your locstion history is the least of your problems. But I do agree that it should not store this information, encrypted or not... [1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20010948-260.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20010948-260.html
- acrum 15y agoThe simple solution is select encrypt backups in your iTunes options. If my computer or phone got stolen, I'd have more important things to worry about than whether the thief can find a list of locations I've been. It's fun/interesting to see it mapped out though.
- ceejayoz 15y agoEncrypting backups won't encrypt the original file on your phone.
- ichilton 15y agoI thought they added something in iOS 3 that did encrypt the phone and that's why the erase is so fast now? I also assume that if you put a passcode on with the 'erase after 10 incorrect attempts' setting that this would be permanently erased if they get your passcode wrong 10 times...?
- travisp 15y agoYou may not worry about this, but others might (and I can think of scenarios where this would be a very bad thing), and it certainly isn't apparent to most people that if your phone gets stolen, the thief has access to your location history.
- Duff 15y agoHow will encrypting my backup prevent someone with access to my phone from getting this information?
- yardie 15y agoI can sort of understand the outrage but I don't see the utility of it. Apps that are written for the App store don't have access to this data without the permission of the user. And the only way an app would be allowed access to a file outside the sandbox is if its jailbroken. I'm not familiar with the in and outs of iOS LocationManager but it generally gives you the immediate coordinates at the time you request and nothing more. As for why the database of locations? It's entirely possible they are using it for QoS. As for access to device backups. If someone has unauthorized control of your desktop computer you have bigger problems.
- pdenya 15y agoWhat is QoS? I agree that it's not a security risk from an app store perspective but I'd still prefer not to be tracked.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- yardie 15y agoQuality of service. Like when the iPhone 3G first came out you could only buy it in areas where 3G service was available. AFAIK, most carriers already do this on all their handsets but their data is restricted to just a few days to a a few months.
- phlux 15y agoRight, if QoS were a concern to att, my phone would not drop/fail to make seriously, 75% of the calls. I am switching to Tmobile because ATT makes me want to go on a rampage. Of course, now using this file, they'll be able to predict where that rampage will occur.
- kgermino 15y agoUm... http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/20/atandt-agrees-to-buy-t-mobile-from-deutsche-telekom/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/20/atandt-agrees-to-buy-t-mo...
- jstn 15y agoWhether or not this is true, Apple should add something like File Vault to iOS. Encrypting your backups is redundant if you're already encrypting your whole home directory, but none of that matters if they have access to your unencrypted phone. Check out the police downloader devices the ACLU is investigating: http://www.aclumich.org/issues/privacy-and-technology/2011-04/1542 http://www.aclumich.org/issues/privacy-and-technology/2011-0...
- hexley 15y agoEverything on the iPhone (from 3GS forward) is already encrypted afaik. That's how remote wipe works instantly (by just deleting the encryption keys)
- r00fus 15y agoThis is incorrect. Device encryption on 3GS and later devices are only for 1) Apps that implement Apple's device encryption API (ie, stashPro now has this) 2) If you have a strong password set and 3) Unless you have a device released with iOS4.x, you will need to wipe, then restore it with the flag turned on http://www.tipb.com/2011/03/18/daily-tip-enable-data-protection-iphone-ipad/ http://www.tipb.com/2011/03/18/daily-tip-enable-data-protect...
- tlear 15y agoThis is a perfect timing for promotion of Playbook and BB security. I am sure RIM will miss the opportunity though.
- foobarbazetc 15y agoAnd I'm sure Playbook has its own gaping security holes that no one will find or care about because no one's going to buy it.
- edw 15y agoDoes no one else agree with me that this is awesome? I love being able to visualize my comings and goings. It's the story of the last year or so of my life, in colored dots. I hope Apple doesn't respond to the "outrage" by no longer collecting this data. To a first order approximation, I am with Scott McNealy over in the "Privacy?! Get over it" camp: http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1999/01/17538 http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1999/01/17538 As an aside, can real outrage even exist anymore in this age of the easy forum post or re-tweet or tumblr entry or Facebook post? And if it does, how do you identify it? And if you can identify it, what does it mean?
- jokermatt999 15y agoI love being able to visualize my comings and goings. Then use something like Latitude. There are options for you if you want to see this data other than having Apple collect data from all users whether they like it or not.
- edw 15y agoI think you are confused: you say that "Apple collect[s] data." Apple's software is collecting data, but is it the case that Apple has access to this data? I don't think so. There are issues of agency here: in my interpretation of things, my phone is collecting and storing the data, Apple isn't. I guess I have some sort of perverse desire to see my karma auger into the x axis thanks to this issue, because people seem to be whiny hysterics on it. Computers log data. A phone is a computer. The history of the phone's location is conceivably useful—it's like a geospatial stack trace—and even if this data is going to the Apple mothership, I don't care as long as the data gets Tivo-ified.
- jokermatt999 15y agoI said "Apple collects data" as a shorthand for "Apple's software collects data and stores it on your phone" because the distinction you're making seems to be meaningless to most people. I can see your point though. Still, I don't see why this is better than an optional, third party application for this data. I also think that people should be upset at their phone keeping this data without their knowledge. You say it could be useful, but useful to whom? Advertisers, stalkers, "The Government"? I can't see how this useful to most users at all. computers log data, A phone is a computer. I think most people view their phone somewhat more intimately than their computer. Notice the uproar any time privacy issues like these are raised about a phone. Furthermore, tracking someone's location is just about the creepiest thing you could do for most people. It's just ripe for abuse, and as I stated earlier, I can't see much in the way of positive use.
- aj700 15y agoOkay, but do the devices do this if 'Location Services' are turned off. And I assume Cydia will now get an app that forces them off if the os ignores the setting.
- cube13 15y agoCould this be related to the mobleMe "Find my iPhone" feature that Apple added in 4.0? If so, this is probably a non-story. I'd be interested if it still logs if Location Services are off, too.
- ugh 15y agoIf it is, the database is seriously overengineered. Find my iPhone will not let you access past locations, it seems to always only let you access freshly requested location information. Such sensitive data should not be saved without the user's explicit permission if it's not needed for some purpose the user explicitly wants to use the device for.
- ljdk 15y agoIn addition to cell tower and Wi-Fi hotspot locations iTunes keeps a backup of all text messages and recent calls. A while ago I've even made a small web app to chart it - http://datalysed.com/?p=130 http://datalysed.com/?p=130
- runjake 15y agoI didn't know this was news. I and other security researchers & law enforcement have known about it for a while. I assisted in one court case where the data was used as evidence. I suspect the slick-looking iPhoneTracker app finally made it interesting to the media. Edit: There was a similar deal on iOS 3 but it seemed more like a bug, not a feature. Data would be purged at some unpredictable interval. I can't recall the file path and don't have an iOS 3 device handy.
- guelo 15y agoSide question, could you explain your ethics in helping the cops bust someone by using a tracking device they did not know they were carrying? Personally I find it repugnant and would not participate, the right to privacy is more important than a single crime.
- PandaPacha 15y agoIn deed nothing new. About a year ago a man discovered that his wife's iPhone was sending about 75 Mb of data to Apple via wifi in early morning : https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2450738?threadID=2450738&start=0&tstart=0 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2450738?threadID=245073... It turned out it was dumps of GPS data and other stuffs. Apple acknowledged that to the House of Representatives. They're gathering data about their customers, including GPS : [PDF] http://markey.house.gov/docs/applemarkeybarton7-12-10.pdf http://markey.house.gov/docs/applemarkeybarton7-12-10.pdf II / C / 1 / a. : "Second, to help Apple update and maintain its database with known location information, Apple may also collect and transmit Cell Tower and Wi-Fi Access Point Information automatically. With one exception, Apple automatically collects this information only if the device’s location-based service capabilities are toggled to “On” and the customer uses an application requiring location-based infomiation. If both conditions are met, the device intermittently and anonymously collects Cell Tower and Wi-Fi Access Point Information from the cell towers and Wi-Fi access points that it can “see”, along with the device’s GPS coordinates, if available. This information is batched and then encrypted and transmitted to Apple over a Wi-Fi Internet connection every twelve hours (or later if the device does not have Wi-Fi Intemet access at that time)."
- 15y ago
- pgio 15y agoThis was noted last September by C. Vance here: http://blog.csvance.com/?p=39 http://blog.csvance.com/?p=39 Good detail on how and why it is generated.
- nicklovescode 15y agoApple is simply building a mandatory foursquare competitor, it's not a big deal guys
- tomkinstinch 15y agoFor those with jailbroken iPhones and SSH, the data can be accessed or copied directly. The information is stored in this file: /private/var/root/Library/Caches/locationd/consolidated.db The file can be viewed with any ol' SQLite browser, and the location information is stored in the "CellLocation" table. After using an iPhone 4 since release day, I have ~1400 entries.
- xpaulbettsx 15y agoTo make it work with Pete Warden's app, add this block to the bottom of loadLocationDb, before the displayErrorAndQuit: if (!loadWorked) { loadWorked = [self tryToLoadLocationDB: @"/path/to/your/consolidated.db" forDevice: @"iPhone"]; }
- vipin001 15y agoI have tried this but i cannot the open the database. i just given the path /private/var/root/Library/Caches/locationd/consolidated.db it is giving the SQLITE error 14. Kindly make a reply.
- jawngee 15y agoJailbreak + cron + rm
- jschrf 15y agoBest be cronning every minute or so, because unfortunately you can't rm on Apple's servers.
- zenocon 15y agoAbout 6 months ago, I left an ipad on a plane. Unsurprisingly, all my attempts to recover it led to dead ends. I didn't have the mobileme / findmyiphone app installed on it. I understand privacy concerns, but I'd actually like it if Apple did have a copy of this db, and they allowed me to proxy through them / law enforcement so that I could locate this lost device. I know someone has it b/c I can see they were using my Netflix account.
- minalecs 15y agoI think you're looking for something more like prey : http://preyproject.com/ http://preyproject.com/
- ck2 15y agoBTW all cellular devices are recorded as they move through tower locations while they are on and police don't feel they need a warrant for such data, so your location is pretty much available without that file.
- anonymous246 15y agoWay to miss the point. Earlier, entities recording: cell company. Earlier, entities with access: police, cell company Now, entities recording: cell company, Apple Now, entities with access: police, cell company, anybody who temporarily gains access to my phone, anybody who temporarily gains access to my iTunes computer See, how the "attack surface" is dramatically bigger now?
- ck2 15y agoOh I am not saying this isn't a huge scandal. I'm just saying keep in mind this info is also available to others without an iphone.
- bittermang 15y agoMy phones location is available. Not my location.
- ramynassar 15y agoThis has been happening for a long time, has it not?
- serialx 15y agoCreated a GPX file generator. Use it to convert the database into a GPX file format. Open it up with Google Earth. https://github.com/serialx/iphonegpx https://github.com/serialx/iphonegpx
- rtheron 15y agoI'd love to use this data to geotag the photos I've taken on my digital camera over the past year, so I've downloaded this script along with the consolidated.db file into a directory, however, when I execute: python iphonegpx i get the below error, could you provide some more detailed usage instructions?: C:\Users\<xxxxx>\Desktop\serialx-iphonegpx-a124079\serialx-iphonegpx-a124079>pyth on iphonegpx.py File "iphonegpx.py", line 24 <time>""" + data[0][0].isoformat() + """</time> ^ SyntaxError: invalid syntax
- serialx 15y agoMaybe you are using Python 3? make print statement to print() function.
- templaedhel 15y agoFrom what I understand, at least with google, this data (the data sent anonymously) is used amoung other things, for the maps traffic feature. If a fair number of phones are traveling below the speed limit on a road, it can be assumed that the traffic is bad on that road. Not sure if the apple data is used for that, or if they get the traffic data from google, but it is one legitimate use.
- dgulino 15y agoA workaround for hacked iOS devices: http://technicalmusings.blogspot.com/2011/04/ios-consolidateddb-workaround-for.html http://technicalmusings.blogspot.com/2011/04/ios-consolidate...
- plainOldText 15y agoI can imagine a jealous spouse saying now to the other "i love you so much honey and from now on i will do your iphone backups. Just to make sure everything is safe for you" Then the jealous spouse downloads the iphone tracker visualization tool: "So honey, where were you last night? Really ? Dont you dare lie to me" :)
- sambeau 15y agoIf you have a 3G device the cell towers already know this and the data is already tracked. So what is new here?
- rdouble 15y agoThe data is in an unencrypted file on your device and synced computer, instead of in a database at AT&T.
- awakeasleep 15y agoI wish this wasn't presented as sinister. The fact is, that phone companies store all that data for EVERY cell phone, and it's always available to government agencies and divorce attorneys after a subpoena. All this does is raise the common man's awareness, and possibly provides an afternoon of fun looking at your travel history. If you want your iphone data secret, it prompts you to encrypt your backups when you first plug the phone in.
- earl 15y agoNo. Given eg the police in Michigan using devices to dump phone contents on a regular basis [1], there is an enormous difference between unencrypted data on a device just sitting there and anything requiring a subpoena. [1] http://www.mobiledia.com/news/87523.html http://www.mobiledia.com/news/87523.html
- awakeasleep 15y agoElsewhere in the threads you can see that device won't work with a password-protected iPhone
- kovar 15y agoThe issue is that this data used to only be available via the service provider. Now it is available from the device, and the device it syncs to.
- uptown 15y agoAll of this from a device which prevents you from ever removing its battery.
- allwein 15y agoSo after doing a quick analysis of the data on my iPhone, I've come to the conclusion that this isn't a huge issue at all. First, I'll start with the WiFi data (WifiLocation table): Among the information captured is MAC, Timestamp, and Lat/Long. I have a total of 118,640 records in my table. I did a "SELECT DISTINCT MAC FROM WifiLocation", and got... 118,640 records. This tells me that it's not "tracking my every move" via Wifi location since there's a single entry for each MAC. The question might be, is it updating the Timestamp when I'm near a specific Wifi Network? My guess is no. I did the backup and analysis this morning, April 20th. Yet the last entries in my database are from April 16th. This tells me that it's not an always on tracker and that it's not updating timestamps. Next, I looked at the CallLocation table: The same thing held true with this table. The last entry on my phone was from April 16th. Also, I have 6300 entries in my CellLocation table. I decided to start restricting the precision of the Lat/Long to see if there were duplicates that would indicate "tracking". At 5 decimal points, there were no duplicates. At 4 decimals, there were a handful that had 2 dups. At 3 decimals, there were more dups, with the most being 6. At this point I still had 5672 uniques. At 2 decimals, the most had 89 and I had 2468 uniques. At 1 it really went down, obviously, and I was down to 253 uniques. The other thing I noticed was that there was no regular timing of entries, and that when there were entries, a large number of them had the same timestamp. So based on my analysis, this isn't a feature that enables detailed tracking of a user. It will allow you to see if a user has been in a certain location the first time, but that's the extent of it. For instance, I could see that I made a trip to Washington DC in late October of last year. But you can't really tell my movements around my home town with any amount of precision. My assumption, like others, is that Apple is using this to enable easier use of Location based services. I assume (which I'm going to test), that whenever a user enables a Location Based app (Google Maps, FourSquare), iOS updates this database with all local cell towers/wifi locations and the Latitude/Longitude. The more comprehensive the local database is, the quicker/easier it is for Location Based Services to help pinpoint a users location. Instead of waiting for GPS to spin up and get a satellite lock, it will be able to get a more accurate lock off of cell tower/wifi triangulation.
- allwein 15y agoI just ran the additional test I noted above. I went into Google Maps and had it locate my position. Then I did a new backup to look at the data again. I had 9 additional records, all Timestamped identically, from while I was using Google Maps. However, there were 112 other records where the Timestamp was updated. So again, it seems to only update the database when you use a Location Based Service. And it does update any existing records with a current timestamp.
- xsmasher 15y agoI assume Apple collects this data to pass back to skyhook so they can update their database of wifi-to-geolocation data. Must be nice to have millions of sensors roaming around collecting data for you.
- thought_alarm 15y agoOther way around. It's a cache for CoreLocation, and the location data comes from Skyhook.
- xsmasher 15y agoInteresting - Apple's filing says they dropped skyhook in 3.2 and switched to their own database... using this data. http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/07/apple-responds-to-congress-swears-location-data-is-private.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/07/apple-responds-to-...
- Limes102 15y agoWhen I read this I simply had to try it out for myself and quickly plot the data. It's a nice reminder of the places I have been over the past year. I don't mind that Apple have saved the information on the device, what I mind is that they haven't given us an option to clear the logs or to actually visualise the data directly from the phone.
- kovar 15y agoApple license agreement covering the collection of location data - http://pastebin.com/EdFJr6iU http://pastebin.com/EdFJr6iU
- justsee 15y agoThe same community that would generally react very negatively to reports of a company storing passwords unencrypted in a database seems to effortlessly explain away Apple's approach to storing a significant amount of personal tracking data unencrypted, not on one pretty inaccessible server but on multiple easily-accessible devices. Fascinating.
- pieter 15y agoOf course, Apple would know your location most of the time anyway, whether or not this file exists. You send the ID's of cell towers and wifi points to Apple, which returns you the location of those points. Apple could always have been storing your location based on that interaction alone. In fact, keeping a database like this could actually give Apple LESS information about your location, as you don't have to request a new location if you already have the info of all the near ID's in your database. I'm not sure if this actually happens though. The same, of course, can be said for any Android device and Google's A-GPS database; you have no guarantees that Google isn't logging your location whenever you're using location services.
- polar 15y agoNot news at all to someone in the digital forensic community: https://alexlevinson.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/3-major-issues-with-the-latest-iphone-tracking-discovery/ https://alexlevinson.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/3-major-issues...