Check Your Settings: Cell Phone Pictures Are Risky Business

[cyber-cliff]

If you're like many smartphone users, you're posting images to Facebook, Picasa and other social-media networks. But did you know that the photos you upload (or even e-mail) could be putting you -- and your kids -- at risk? That's because your smartphone is equipped with technology that can allow hackers to find out where you live.

Here's how it works: Smartphones have geolocation technology that tags photos with the location. Criminals can look at the information coded into those files and find out where you live, work or play (wherever you were when you took the picture). When the criminal zeroes in on the area where he lives to find images of children, all he has to do is click on the photo and select View Image Info to find out exactly where the photo was taken.

An NBC Action News report being circulated on YouTube offers an example in which news reporters were able to use the geolocation technology to not only locate a child's home, but also her bedroom, her day-care facility, a fast-food restaurant the family frequents, and the specific area of a park where the child plays. Although it requires a browser plug-in to fully translate the photo information into something useful, the danger is real.

What Should You Post Online?

McAfee confirms that location services such as foursquare, Gowalia, and Facebook Places can easily search, track and plot the whereabouts of friends and strangers.

In just a few clicks, cybercriminals can see in real time who is tweeting, where they are located, what they are saying, what their interests are, and what operating systems and applications they are using. McAfee Labs predicts that cybercriminals will increasingly use these tactics across the most popular social-networking sites in 2011. But the ability to access faces, not just names, is even scarier to parents.

"As the Internet becomes a mechanism for people to share increasingly intimate details of their lives -- which seems to be the case in social networking and other sorts of sites -- questions arise about what you should [or shouldn't] share," said Charles King, principal analyst at PundIT. "Especially when you get into issues of geolocation, people are not just talking about what they are doing and when they are doing it, but exactly where they are doing it."

The Bigger Picture

Ultimately, however, King suspects there are greater dangers than criminals searching for photos, using software to translate geolocation data into actionable information, and then actually acting upon those details. Multiple studies show that most child abductions are carried out by a family member, or someone who knows the family member.

"You've always got to take stories from television news outlets -- many of which seem to be more obsessed with sensationalistic stories that touch people's nerves than they are with reporting accurately -- with a grain of salt," King said. "Yes, there could be a danger. But there are other, bigger dangers."

How To Protect Yourself

In terms of reducing the risk related to the geotracing of cell phone photos, there are simple ways you can protect yourself, your friends, and your family.

For starters, you can change your social-networking settings to private so only people you invite into your network can see your photos. Unfortunately, it takes a bit of practice to find all the right settings with Facebook and some other sites, and plenty of users forget to take the time to check their privacy settings. Restricting privacy and information to friends can be critically important.

Also, and perhaps most important, you can turn off the GPS (global positioning system) settings on your smartphone's camera so it doesn't capture the location information. That step is important not just in terms of photos you upload to social networks, but also for photos you email, since ultimately, those travel over the Web, as well.

And, last but not least: spread the word.

Ask your friends, family and associates to take these steps as well -- restricting their privacy settings and turning off the GPS function on their smartphone cameras -- so that you and your loved ones can't be inadvertently tracked through photos uploaded to Facebook or other sites on the Internet.

Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com Jennifer Leclaire, newsfactor.com - Fri Apr 1, 4:10 pm ET

cyber-cliff Reviewed by cyber-cliff on 3rd Apr 2011. Check Your Settings: Cell Phone Pictures Are Risky Business If you're like many smartphone users, you're posting images to Facebook, Picasa and other social-media networks. But did you know that the photos you upload (or even e-mail) could be putting you -- and your kids -- at risk? That's because your smartphone is equipped with technology that can allow hackers to find out where you live. Here's how it works: Smartphones have geolocation technology that tags photos with the location. Criminals can look at the information coded into those Rating: 5

[Prazsky]

Great information. Its important to know this for those who share pics online. Its not much of use to me though since I don't even have any personal accounts at any social networking sites

[SuicidalMedia]

That's so old.. Pictures with GPS coordinates are quite popular on some amateur porn forums, especially on the ones with stalkers, lol.

[PA$$!oN]

That's so old.. Pictures with GPS coordinates are quite popular on some amateur porn forums, especially on the ones with stalkers, lol.

yes jason you are ryt