Even Without GPS You Can Be Tracked by Your SmartPhone

Commenting on an CNBC Article (July 14, 2018) the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center - Joint OPSEC Support Element stated:

The ability to track individuals with potentially an over 90% degree probability of success should be of great concern to everyone, and while this test was done against an Android phone iPhones have essentially the same vulnerabilities that can be exploited. People have become very dependent on their mobile devices but they must be keenly aware of the risks associated with them, especially when working with critical information or in sensitive areas.

According to the CNBC Article, "a team of Northeastern University researchers recently found a way to track people with cellphones with GPS capabilities turned off.

Could someone be tracking you as you drive around your city or town?

You may think turning off your smartphone’s location will prevent this, but researchers from Northeastern University in Boston found that isn’t always the case.

Using Android phones running Google’s operating system, the researchers did the tracking using sensors in smartphones that were not designed to track location. Those tools included an accelerometer, which tracks how fast a phone is moving, a magnetometer, which works like a digital compass, and a gyroscope, which tracks rotation.

The ability to track gets easier with more information.

If you were to travel the same path every day, we have extremely high probability to guess where you live, where you work and what trajectories you took. Extremely high meaning that on repeated paths more than 90 percent.

People don't really realize that their mobile phone, with access to all these sensors, is, in some sense, potentially like the best spying device you can imagine…"
--