Abuse of image meta-data

[GrahamL]

A warning for those who have geolocation on their cameras, or more likely their mobile phone. There was a recent article by the internet security company Sophos on the maluse of location data in instagram posted photos. The article is about an underwear thief using such data to identify target apartments, but could of course extend to others wanting to identify home locations.

See https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2015/12/10/instagram-facebook-location-data-led-panty-snatching-burglar-to-womens-homes/?utm_source=Naked+Security+-+Sophos+List&utm_campaign=8a4faaba0f-naked%252Bsecurity&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_31623bb782-8a4faaba0f-454919317

There's more personal information out there than people think.

Cheers,

Graham

[Peter Boughton]

There's more personal information out there than people think.

A large part of the problem is that people don't think.

If users and developers of software/services spent even a little bit of time to consider the ramifications of what they do/enable, quite a few would do things differently.

[Mike Farley]

Thnaks for this post, Graham, which has useful information about precautions to take when online. As with a number of other scare stories, I suspect that the risks which emanate from leaving location data embedded in images are small and there are good reasons why you might not wish to do so in every instance. Someone would have to be quite determined to use location data to the detriment of any particular individual. Yes, there are nutters out there and it does happen, so it makes sense to be aware of what you are posting and restrict access on social media to those you trust. I never cease to be amazed at just how naive and gullible some people can be, including those you would expect to know better.