NSA tracks the location of mobile phones around the world

According to the newspaper The Washington Post , referring to the documents of Edward Snowden, the US National Security Agency daily collects about 5 billion units of information on the location of cell phones around the world. This allows the NSA to both track the location of individuals and create a map of their relationships and reveal hidden connections.

The most basic analytical tools of the NSA use the date, time and location of cell phones, others calculate the speed and trajectory of a large number of mobile devices, superimposing electronic data on transport cards to determine the likely travel time and which devices might cross.
')
Like the use of encryption and anonymization tools on the Internet, the use of "one-time" phones, included only for short calls, also automatically makes their owners objects of special attention. For example, when a new phone connects to a cell tower, the program automatically notes which phone was previously used nearby.

In accordance with top-secret briefing slides, the NSA collects data from 10 major electronic intelligence complexes ( SIGAD ). One of which (STORMBREW), for example, relies on two unnamed corporate partners serving the equipment of the NSA, including update and configuration, and collects data from 27 points of contact connecting the internal network of some cellular operators to others.

The extensive database stores information about at least several hundred million devices. Since the NSA cannot know in advance which data it may need in the future, it collects and stores everything it can - according to some calculations, about 27 terabytes (twice the print collection of the Library of Congress).

At one of the NSA's internal briefings in May 2012, it was reported that location data reached such volumes that it exceeded the agency’s ability to receive, process and store them. In the next year and a half, the NSA was engaged in the transition to a new, more powerful infrastructure.

At the same time, the NSA does not collect data on American citizens, except when they enter the database by chance (for example, traveling abroad) - as this would violate American laws.

Mobile phones report their location even when they are not used to make calls or send messages:

• When a mobile device connects to a cellular network, it reports the presence of one or more base stations serviced by cellular operators. These registration messages often include a rough device location at the city or country level.
• Many mobile devices and smartphones use Wi-Fi to determine their location using a database of Wi-Fi hotspots around the world. This allows you to determine the location accurate to the quarter.
• GPS receivers embedded in many phones, allow you to localize the device with an accuracy of 100 meters or less.
• Most cellular operators also calculate the location of the phones by their distance from several cellular stations.

According to the newspaper, judging by the documents of Snowden, the ability of the NSA to track the location is “stunning” and is able to make efforts to ensure the security of communications largely useless. Indeed, one of the key components of location data that makes them so sensitive is the physical impossibility of maintaining confidentiality. You can encrypt e-mails or hide your identity on the Internet, but the only way to hide your location is to abandon all modern communication methods and live in a cave.