From July 2019 London's subway wants to track smartphones
For better statistics, Transport for London takes a bold step. The authority will track all registered devices by MAC address to better understand passenger flows and warn of overcrowding situations.
London's Transport for London (TfL) plans to track all smartphones via the WLAN interface from 8 July 2019. The authority, which reports directly to the mayor, will take advantage of the technical feature that all WLAN interfaces have a MAC address with which they can be identified within the WLAN. In the network, the data packets are sent to the appropriate addressees.
The TfL plan alienates this technical network feature for other purposes. Since the MAC address is unique, it can easily be used to track passengers. Although a MAC address is not carved in stone, relatively few passengers should be so familiar with it that they can correctly assess the potential difficulties. Technically speaking, TfL should be able to pick up the MAC address at every WLAN access point and use it to generate motion profiles, for example within the subway. Only devices that have connected to the WLAN once are affected.
TfL assures that it will not be possible to later combine the motion profiles with other data and then identify people. In principle, this would be possible if an attacker had additional data, such as video recordings. If, for example, a MAC address on the Jubilee Line enters a station that is used little, this would be easy even in the long run. You only need the time code to find the right place in the video material and then assign a face to the MAC address.
https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2019/may/tfl-to-give-customers-better-information-about-their-tube-journeys
#tracking #uk #london #subway #wlan
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📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_ES
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For better statistics, Transport for London takes a bold step. The authority will track all registered devices by MAC address to better understand passenger flows and warn of overcrowding situations.
London's Transport for London (TfL) plans to track all smartphones via the WLAN interface from 8 July 2019. The authority, which reports directly to the mayor, will take advantage of the technical feature that all WLAN interfaces have a MAC address with which they can be identified within the WLAN. In the network, the data packets are sent to the appropriate addressees.
The TfL plan alienates this technical network feature for other purposes. Since the MAC address is unique, it can easily be used to track passengers. Although a MAC address is not carved in stone, relatively few passengers should be so familiar with it that they can correctly assess the potential difficulties. Technically speaking, TfL should be able to pick up the MAC address at every WLAN access point and use it to generate motion profiles, for example within the subway. Only devices that have connected to the WLAN once are affected.
TfL assures that it will not be possible to later combine the motion profiles with other data and then identify people. In principle, this would be possible if an attacker had additional data, such as video recordings. If, for example, a MAC address on the Jubilee Line enters a station that is used little, this would be easy even in the long run. You only need the time code to find the right place in the video material and then assign a face to the MAC address.
https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2019/may/tfl-to-give-customers-better-information-about-their-tube-journeys
#tracking #uk #london #subway #wlan
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_ES
📡@FLOSSb0xIN