Apple's AirTag uncovers a secret German intelligence agency | Hacker News Reader

Apple's AirTag uncovers a secret German intelligence agency

appleinsider.com

Sweet Apple didn't bother to create a real time Airtag tracking android app. They have one, but it's manual so it's useless. Thankfully, The Secure Mobile Networking Lab (SEEMOO)of the Computer Science Department of Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany has created an app for it. It's FOSS and available on Google Play and Fdroid.

https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.seemoo.at_t...

https://f-droid.org/packages/de.seemoo.at_tracking_detection

Thanks! Just installed it and I have airtag but it didn't pick it up. Maybe it needs some time..

> If a tracker is detected at least 3 times and the locations have changed (to make sure its not your neighbour) the app sends you a notification.

I'd like for it to report the stationary trackers as well. A ping from my neighbour is one thing, even a ping from a grocery store. But if I saw a repeated ping from an unremarkable street corner, I'm going to be suspicious. Even more so if there are multiple street corners.

I like this though,

> Version 1.0.6 - This version requires Android 8.0 or newer.

> Version 1.1.1 - This version requires Android 5.0 or newer.

:thumbsup:

What's your worry about the static AirTag scenario?

I'm not up to date on this stuff (or who you even asked), but I think that situation might be helpful for someone trying to figure out leaving/return patterns for a street/neighborhood

An AirTag doesn't help with that - you're basically looking at a bluetooth beacon. All apple's devices randomly rotate wifi+bluetooth MAC addresses in order to prevent that.

I have yet to understand how the stalker warning works :D

I would not be surprised if apple was forced to implement a backdoor for these devices seeing their potential. Same goes for the Starlink satellites.

I would think that mail to a federal authority would go through an x-ray and mail including suspiciously hidden electronics to get nabbed for forensics.

Maybe she sent an airtag in a package to a legit gov agency, it was scanned, and they detected the tag.

So they forwarded to this "secret" agency for detailed examination.

(a thought, likely or not... I do not work for the gov)

The problem with AirTag and similar is that it's sole purpose is to provide an extremely minor convenience at the expense of allowing anyone at all to expose anything and everything its technology possibly can expose. It puts advanced location tracking in the hands of the consumer-at-large, a technology that no one needs nor realized they wanted until made to want. By and large, it allows people to choose to be dumber, at least that was its purpose before someone discovered they could use it to expose clandestine operations. Bear in mind, spies are people, too, and we only ever hear about terrible spies.

Interesting use case for an air tag. Say someone had a PO Box or mail forwarding service and you wanted to know where they live. Mail them an air tag!

I imagine a lot of streamers with PO boxes will get doxxed this way.

Lock picking lawyer said it happened to him in a video a while back.

There is no escape from the total information era. Everybody will know everything and the only thing anyone can do about it is learn to cope.

Lilith Wittmann keeps doing cool stuff. She recently rose to national prominence when she exposed massive basic flaws in a campaign app by the former government party and they reacted as incompetently as possible.

Is there a way to scan my immediate area for an AirTag?

I would buy a device I could plug in to my car's USB that would alert me if an AirTag was near.

Yes. It's called an iPhone.

Can an iPhone detect other people's AirTags? What about an iPad? How do I do that?

I'm not the OP nor am I sure about the specific answer to your question, but an iPhone will alert you if there's an airtag that's following you around which doesn't belong to you. In other words, if someone is tracking you it will alert you. There is also an app for Android that does the same.

So Apple has a tool against stalking caused by their own products. Reports of abuse are rising though. Technically trackers are illegal in Germany, but the law and legislation acts slowly.

if you have an Android device, Apple created an Android app for this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trac...

As I understand it's just a Bluetooth Low Energy beacon, at least for the coarse-grain positioning.

I don't know of any portable devices that specifically hunt BLE (I understand Cisco CleanAir technology can monitor and report on BLE but that's for fixed wireless installations) but I would imagine a generic 2.4GHz RF detector would work, assuming there's not too much RF pollution nearby... drive out somewhere isolated and have a scan.

I have read many AirTag stories, and so far, I can say that it can be used for good and bad.

What is the best battery life for a bluetooth low energy beacon?

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