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Category — Google Location History
Google Adds New Option to 'Auto-Delete' Your Location History and Activity Data

Google Adds New Option to 'Auto-Delete' Your Location History and Activity Data

May 02, 2019
Google is giving you more control over how long you want the tech company to hold on to your location history and web activity data. Google has introduced a new, easier, privacy-focused auto-delete feature for your Google account that will allow you to automatically delete your Location History and Web and App Activity data after a set period of time. Google's Location History feature, if enabled, allows the company to track locations that you have visited, while Web and App Activity tracks websites you have visited and apps you have used. Until now, Google allowed you to either altogether disable the Location History and Web and App Activity feature or manually delete all or part of that data, providing no controls for regular deletion so that users can manage their data efficiently. However, an AP investigation last year revealed that even if you turn off the Location History feature in all your accounts, Google services on Android and iPhone devices continue to trac
Google Helps Police Identify Devices Close to Crime Scenes Using Location Data

Google Helps Police Identify Devices Close to Crime Scenes Using Location Data

Apr 15, 2019
It's no secret that Google tracks you everywhere, even when you keep Google's Location History feature disabled. As revealed by an Associated Press investigation in 2018 , other Google apps like Maps or daily weather update service on Android allows the tech giant to continuously collect your precise latitude and longitude. According to Google, the company uses this location-tracking features with an intent to improve its users' experience, like "personalized maps, recommendations based on places you've visited, help finding your phone, real-time traffic updates about your commute, and more useful ads." Moreover, it's also known that Google could share your location data with federal authorities in criminal investigations when asked with a warrant. Google 'SensorVault' Database Help Police Solve Crimes But what many people weren't aware of is that Google also helps federal authorities identify suspects of crimes by sharing locati
Cyber Story Time: The Boy Who Cried "Secure!"

Cyber Story Time: The Boy Who Cried "Secure!"

Nov 21, 2024Threat Detection / Pentesting
As a relatively new security category, many security operators and executives I've met have asked us "What are these Automated Security Validation (ASV) tools?" We've covered that pretty extensively in the past, so today, instead of covering the " What is ASV?" I wanted to address the " Why ASV?" question. In this article, we'll cover some common use cases and misconceptions of how people misuse and misunderstand ASV tools daily (because that's a lot more fun). To kick things off, there's no place to start like the beginning. Automated security validation tools are designed to provide continuous, real-time assessment of an organization's cybersecurity defenses. These tools are continuous and use exploitation to validate defenses like EDR, NDR, and WAFs. They're more in-depth than vulnerability scanners because they use tactics and techniques that you'll see in manual penetration tests. Vulnerability scanners won't relay hashes or combine vulnerabilities to further attacks, whic
Google Sued Over Misleading Users About Location Tracking Feature

Google Sued Over Misleading Users About Location Tracking Feature

Aug 21, 2018
Google was in the news last week for a misleading claim that "with Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored," which is not true. Now, the search engine giant is once again in the news after a San Diego man has filed the first lawsuit against Google over this issue. Last week, the Associated Press investigation revealed that the search engine giant tracks movements of millions of iPhone and Android device users, even if they have disabled the "Location History" setting to prevent it. However, it turned out that to fully opt-out of having your location activities stored by Google, you also have to disable the 'Web and App Activity' control as well, about which the company has mentioned deep into its product documentation. In response to the AP investigation, Google defended itself by saying, "there are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people's experience," and that "we provide c
cyber security

6 Best Practices for Privileged Account and Session Management (PASM)

websiteSytecaCybersecurity / Privileged Accounts
Learn how to secure privileged accounts and sessions to protect your data and meet compliance standards.
Google Tracks Android, iPhone Users Even With 'Location History' Turned Off

Google Tracks Android, iPhone Users Even With 'Location History' Turned Off

Aug 13, 2018
Google tracks you everywhere, even if you explicitly tell it not to. Every time a service like Google Maps wants to use your location, Google asks your permission to allow access to your location if you want to use it for navigating, but a new investigation shows that the company does track you anyway. An investigation by Associated Press revealed that many Google services on Android and iPhone devices store records of your location data even when you have paused "Location History" on your mobile devices. Disabling " Location History " in the privacy settings of Google applications should prevent Google from keeping track of your every movement, as its own support page states: "You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored." However, AP found that even with Location History turned off, some Google apps automatically store "time-stamped location data" on users without ask
Your Location has been Shared 5,398 Times in Last 14 Days

Your Location has been Shared 5,398 Times in Last 14 Days

Mar 30, 2015
Do you realize how often your smartphone is sharing your location data with various companies? It is more than 5000 times in just two weeks. That is little Shocking but True! A recent study by the security researchers from Carnegie Mellon reveals that a number of smartphone applications collect your location-related data — a lot more than you think. The security researcher released a warning against the alarming approach: " Your location [data] has been shared 5,398 times with Facebook, GO Launcher EX, Groupon and seven other [applications] in the last 14 days. " During their study, researchers monitored 23 Android smartphone users for three weeks. First Week - Participants were asked to use their smartphone apps as they would normally do. Second Week - An app called App Ops was installed to monitor and manage the data those apps were using. Third Week - The team of researchers started sending a daily " privacy nudge " alert that would ping particip
Google Map Tracks Your Every Move. Check Your 'Location History' to Verify It

Google Map Tracks Your Every Move. Check Your 'Location History' to Verify It

Aug 20, 2014
Google has been involved in several controversies including among the companies that was claimed to cooperate with US surveillance agencies on their global data-mining programmes, and just yesterday the popular Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch labeled Google worse than the NSA , saying " NSA privacy invasion bad, but nothing compared to Google. " Now another, but already known controversy over the Internet giant has raised many concerns over privacy of users who carry their smartphones with them. We all have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go i.e. Smartphones. GOOGLE TRACKS YOU EVERYWHERE YOU GO - LOCATION HISTORY Today, with the help of these sensors, Google is tracking our every foot steps and placing a red dot on its map to keep track of users' records, Junkee.com reports. " You can yourself check your every move from here. You just need to log in with the same account you use on your Smartphone, that's it. The map will display all the records of everyw
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