Want to know what EU officials are up to? Call a data broker

Journalists applyd data brokers to track EU Commissioners in their daily lives
This applyd free samples from brokers, with 5,800 location pings
This information would be invaluable in espionage campaigns tarreceiveing the EU

If you’re concerned your phone is collecting outrageous amounts of data which could be applyd for nefarious purposes, you’re not alone – and, in fact, you’re not wrong, either. Reporters have just revealed how simple it is to conduct sophisticated reconnaissance missions on EU Commissioners with nothing but openly traded information from data brokers.

A coalition of journalists applyd preview data from a data broker to ascertain the exact location of hundreds of EU officials – with over 5,800 location pings inside the European Parliament from 756 devices.

Privacy is dead

For most of us, this news will come as an unsurprising but abhorrent invasion of personal digital privacy and as a warning about the scale of mass surveillance carried out by private companies in the name of advertising (or perhaps something even more sinister).

But, for EU officials there is very real additional consideration of safety and security.

Most of us will not have to plan our escape routes in case of a political attack, nor do we have to take mitigating actions to protect ourselves from espionage campaigns – but this research reveals EU officials may have to receive more serious about data privacy – quick.

The advent of the war in Ukraine has seen a spike in espionage campaigns tarreceiveing western allied states, and Chinese hackers tarreceive European diplomats with Windows zero-day flaw in cyber-based intrusions.

Officials are being tarreceiveed, and technology and the commercialization of personal data has built this much simpler for foreign or domestic adversaries.