US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has ordered a review of security protocols, officials say, after fitness tracking devices broadcast patterns of movement at military facilities around the world, including in war zones. His discovery prompted others to scour the heat map, turning up other possible locations of U.S. and other mostly Western personnel who typically use high-tech fitness devices, including elsewhere in the Middle East and in Africa. Jim Lewis, a cyber expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said fitness trackers were just one way that all mobile wireless technology can undermine operational security and give adversaries an edge. The Department of Defense said it encourages all defense personnel, wherever they are, to limit their public presence on the internet. "DOD takes matters like these very seriously and is reviewing the situation to determine if any additional training or guidance is required," the Pentagon said in a statement, without directly confirming that US troops had used the fitness trackers.

Source: dna January 30, 2018 02:03 UTC