U.S. says troops were targeted with location data, as senator warns ad industry is a ‘national security threat’

The U.S. Department of Defense has confirmed that adversaries have targeted and surveilled serving military personnel on the battlefield using commercial location data, the latest demonstration of how information collected from phones and computers can be abused to track and target individuals. 

In a letter shared by Sen. Ron Wyden with TechCrunch, U.S. Central Command said it was aware of hostile actors using purchased location data to track U.S. servicemembers.

“USCENTCOM has received multiple threat reports concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil US personnel in theater,” the letter reads.

The letter did not provide examples or specifics, and a spokesperson for the Department of Defense did not return a request for comment.

Reuters first reported the news on Thursday.

Location data is often collected from phones and computers through online advertising, which then gets bought by data brokers, who then sell the data on the open market. Governments and militaries, including the United States, have purchased this data in the past without obtaining a warrant. In recent years, the FBI has warned consumers to use ad blockers as a way to minimize the amount of data that apps, websites, and other software can collect.

Wyden told Reuters that it was time to “start treating the adtech industry as a national security threat.”