US military disabled ad tracking on troops’ devices following reports of targeted attacks


The U.S. Department of Defense has disabled advertising tracking on troops’ phones and computers as part of an effort to protect them from threats that target their locations, according to a letter shared with Sen. Ron Wyden.

Per a letter shared with the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Wyden said that the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command have all disabled advertising tracking across their government-issued devices.

This includes the departments’ iPhones and Android devices, and Windows computers managed across the federal military enterprise network, the letter said.

Read more…
Source:  TechCrunch News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • CISA: Chinese State-Sponsored Cyber Operations – Observed TTPs

    July 19, 2021

    The National Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assess that People’s Republic of China state-sponsored malicious cyber activity is a major threat to U.S. and Allied cyberspace assets. Chinese state-sponsored cyber actors aggressively target U.S. and allied political, economic, military, educational, and critical infrastructure (CI) personnel and ...

  • UK and White House blame China for Microsoft Exchange Server hack

    July 19, 2021

    The UK government has formally laid the blame for the Microsoft Exchange Server cyberattack at the feet of China. On Monday, the government joined others — including the victim company itself, Microsoft — in claiming the cyberattack was the work of Chinese state-sponsored hackers, namely Hafnium, an advanced persistent threat (APT) group. The United States, NATO, and ...

  • US State Department offering $10 million reward for state-backed hackers

    July 15, 2021

    The State Department announced a $10 million reward for any information about hackers working for foreign governments. The measure is aimed squarely at those participating in “malicious cyber activities against US critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.” Officials said in a release that this included ransomware attacks targeting “critical infrastructure.” Read more… Source: ...

  • CISA Issues Emergency Directive Requiring Federal Agencies To Mitigate Windows Print Spooler Service Vulnerability

    July 13, 2021

    WASHINGTON – The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued Emergency Directive (ED) 21-04 today to mitigate a Microsoft Windows print spooler service vulnerability CVE-2021-34527 being actively exploited. Federal civilian agencies are required to immediately disable the print spooler service on Microsoft Active Directory Domain Controllers, apply the Microsoft July 2021 cumulative updates, and make ...

  • Biden tells Putin the U.S. will take ‘any necessary action’ after latest ransomware attack

    July 9, 2021

    President Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that the United States will take “any necessary action” to defend U.S. infrastructure, the White House said, after Russia-based hackers carried out the largest known ransomware attack to date. Biden has been under increasing pressure to counter such costly, brazen assaults — pressure that spiked last weekend ...

  • White House urges mayors to review local govts’ cybersecurity posture

    July 7, 2021

    July 7 Following recent ransomware attacks, Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger asked US mayors to immediately hold a meeting with state agencies’ chiefs to evaluate their cybersecurity posture. Local governments have been under a constant barrage of ransomware attacks during the last few years as highlighted by an FBI public service announcement issued last year. Read ...