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Small beacons like AirTag make it easy to find lost keys or a wallet - but are often used for secret surveillance. Now you can find out about it in time and protect yourself, regardless of the model of your smartphone.
Small Bluetooth tags for finding lost things have become a real gift for forgetful and frequent travelers. The coin-sized device contains a battery and a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transmitter, and an application on a modern smartphone allows you to determine the location of the beacon with an accuracy of several centimeters. If forgotten keys with a tag are far from the owner and his smartphone, other people's smartphones can help find them: both Apple and Google have deployed a global network in which each smartphone reports the location of the nearest beacons to the server, so through a proprietary application (Locator or Find my ... for iOS, Find my Accessory for Android) you can find the lost item, even if the distance to it exceeds the Bluetooth access radius of your phone. The main thing is that at least someone else's smartphone with both Bluetooth and Internet access is nearby.
While the most popular tracker is the Apple AirTag, there are several other accessories that work on the same principle and are sometimes compatible with each other (Chipolo, Eufy, Filo, Samsung SmartTag, Tile, and others). Sometimes tracking features are built directly into frequently lost accessories, such as Bluetooth headsets and headphones.
The possibilities of remote tracking have quickly been appreciated not only by forgetful people, but also by scammers and people-watchers. By planting your AirTag on a victim — for example, by putting it in a pocket of a handbag or under a car’s license plate — you can track a person’s movements without their knowledge. Thieves use this technology before stealing expensive cars, and stalkers and jealous partners — for surveillance and stalking. How can you protect yourself from such an unwanted gift?
Unfortunately, these measures were not enough. They did not help Android owners in any way, and attackers bypassed the sound protection by disconnecting or damaging the speaker themselves or buying “silent” AirTags on online flea markets.
For Android smartphone owners who want to comprehensively protect their privacy, as well as for those whose smartphone does not receive updates from Google, this problem is solved by the new version of Kaspersky protection for Android.
Starting with version 11.113, our protection not only detects stalker apps on your smartphone that are tracking you, but also warns about planted Bluetooth devices, including wireless tags. The application shows a list of detected suspicious devices, but if it is a keychain from your wife's keys, you can add it to the list of trusted ones. The function is available even in the free version of the application, but to activate it, you need to enable it and configure it according to the instructions.
Having received a warning on your smartphone, the first thing you need to do is find the tracker and examine it carefully. To do this, you can use the "precision finding" function, for example, according to this instruction. The tracker can be hidden anywhere - in the folds or pockets of a bag, in a wallet, under the wheel arch in a car, glued to the bumper or license plate shield, and so on. If it is not clear from the appearance whether this is the tracker that the application warns about, you need to check the serial number. For some models, it is printed directly on the case, for others it can be checked by placing it on the smartphone's NFC reader.
This will help to exclude innocent scenarios: for example, you accidentally took someone else's headset instead of your own, or a colleague dropped their keys in your car. In this case, it is enough to return the lost item to the owner. Another situation of conditionally legitimate tracking is a beacon attached to rented equipment; this is especially true for cars and expensive electronics. In this case, you need to discuss surveillance with the person who gave the item out for rent, and decide whether it is acceptable for you. Normally, such measures to protect property should be described in the rental agreement.
The situation with malicious surveillance is more complicated.
If we are talking about victims of domestic violence, people going through a difficult divorce, or other situations in which the detection of surveillance may provoke its organizer to aggressive actions, it is recommended to remain secretive. The surveillance must be reported to law enforcement agencies, but in such a way as not to reveal the fact of its discovery to the organizer. It is important that the beacon itself does not light up at the police station. To do this, you can either remove the battery from it, or organize a meeting with authorities on neutral territory.
If there is no risk of violence, you can simply hand the beacon over to the police. Throwing it away or turning it off is not enough, because you need to prevent the attackers from starting all over again.
And for comprehensive privacy protection, use our most advanced security solution, Kaspersky Premium, which not only neutralizes viruses, but also provides the world's best protection against phishing, allows you to detect intrusions into your Wi-Fi networks, protects your personal data and payment information online, notifies you of password leaks and identity theft, and does many other useful things to keep you completely protected.
We've prepared a detailed step-by-step guide to help you choose the best subscription and quickly set everything up from scratch - or switch from other vendors to our applications, the most awarded of all security solutions in the world.
Source
Small Bluetooth tags for finding lost things have become a real gift for forgetful and frequent travelers. The coin-sized device contains a battery and a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transmitter, and an application on a modern smartphone allows you to determine the location of the beacon with an accuracy of several centimeters. If forgotten keys with a tag are far from the owner and his smartphone, other people's smartphones can help find them: both Apple and Google have deployed a global network in which each smartphone reports the location of the nearest beacons to the server, so through a proprietary application (Locator or Find my ... for iOS, Find my Accessory for Android) you can find the lost item, even if the distance to it exceeds the Bluetooth access radius of your phone. The main thing is that at least someone else's smartphone with both Bluetooth and Internet access is nearby.
While the most popular tracker is the Apple AirTag, there are several other accessories that work on the same principle and are sometimes compatible with each other (Chipolo, Eufy, Filo, Samsung SmartTag, Tile, and others). Sometimes tracking features are built directly into frequently lost accessories, such as Bluetooth headsets and headphones.
The possibilities of remote tracking have quickly been appreciated not only by forgetful people, but also by scammers and people-watchers. By planting your AirTag on a victim — for example, by putting it in a pocket of a handbag or under a car’s license plate — you can track a person’s movements without their knowledge. Thieves use this technology before stealing expensive cars, and stalkers and jealous partners — for surveillance and stalking. How can you protect yourself from such an unwanted gift?
First generation of AirTag protection
As soon as the first reports of real cases of surveillance via AirTag appeared, Apple introduced several protective measures to reduce the likelihood of successful stalking. Firstly, AirTag was equipped with a speaker. If the Bluetooth tag is away from the smartphone it is connected to, it will emit a loud beep from time to time. Secondly, iOS 14.5 introduced a function that notifies the smartphone owner if the same foreign AirTag is detected near it for a long time and at all movements. If this happens, you can turn on the sound on this beacon to find it physically, and also check the AirTag serial number. Sometimes such a situation is quite innocent, if it is a tag hanging on the keys of a relative or friend with whom you are traveling together, or a beacon that parents put in a child's backpack. In this case, the warning about the "foreign" AirTag can be disabled temporarily or permanently.Unfortunately, these measures were not enough. They did not help Android owners in any way, and attackers bypassed the sound protection by disconnecting or damaging the speaker themselves or buying “silent” AirTags on online flea markets.
How to Protect Yourself from AirTags and Other Bluetooth Trackers in 2024
This year, manufacturers have taken on cross-platform capabilities — the ability to detect BLE beacons regardless of which smartphone it is connected to and which smartphone the victim of surveillance has. Apple and Google have teamed up to do this , implementing this functionality in iOS 17.5 and Android (the update is available for all versions, starting with the sixth). Now, a warning that someone else's tracker is constantly being detected somewhere nearby is available on any of these platforms, and the victim has the ability to see the tracker's ID, turn on the speaker on it, and also receive instructions on how to turn off the beacon. Tech giants have proposed a formal DULT (detecting unwanted location trackers) standard, which may become industrial in the future. In the meantime, some tag manufacturers have promised to support the current specification: Chipolo, Eufy, Jio, Motorola, and Pebblebee.For Android smartphone owners who want to comprehensively protect their privacy, as well as for those whose smartphone does not receive updates from Google, this problem is solved by the new version of Kaspersky protection for Android.
Starting with version 11.113, our protection not only detects stalker apps on your smartphone that are tracking you, but also warns about planted Bluetooth devices, including wireless tags. The application shows a list of detected suspicious devices, but if it is a keychain from your wife's keys, you can add it to the list of trusted ones. The function is available even in the free version of the application, but to activate it, you need to enable it and configure it according to the instructions.
What to do if you find an unknown Bluetooth tag
There are no clear rules on this matter, since everything depends on the personal situation of the victim of surveillance.Having received a warning on your smartphone, the first thing you need to do is find the tracker and examine it carefully. To do this, you can use the "precision finding" function, for example, according to this instruction. The tracker can be hidden anywhere - in the folds or pockets of a bag, in a wallet, under the wheel arch in a car, glued to the bumper or license plate shield, and so on. If it is not clear from the appearance whether this is the tracker that the application warns about, you need to check the serial number. For some models, it is printed directly on the case, for others it can be checked by placing it on the smartphone's NFC reader.
This will help to exclude innocent scenarios: for example, you accidentally took someone else's headset instead of your own, or a colleague dropped their keys in your car. In this case, it is enough to return the lost item to the owner. Another situation of conditionally legitimate tracking is a beacon attached to rented equipment; this is especially true for cars and expensive electronics. In this case, you need to discuss surveillance with the person who gave the item out for rent, and decide whether it is acceptable for you. Normally, such measures to protect property should be described in the rental agreement.
The situation with malicious surveillance is more complicated.
If we are talking about victims of domestic violence, people going through a difficult divorce, or other situations in which the detection of surveillance may provoke its organizer to aggressive actions, it is recommended to remain secretive. The surveillance must be reported to law enforcement agencies, but in such a way as not to reveal the fact of its discovery to the organizer. It is important that the beacon itself does not light up at the police station. To do this, you can either remove the battery from it, or organize a meeting with authorities on neutral territory.
If there is no risk of violence, you can simply hand the beacon over to the police. Throwing it away or turning it off is not enough, because you need to prevent the attackers from starting all over again.
And for comprehensive privacy protection, use our most advanced security solution, Kaspersky Premium, which not only neutralizes viruses, but also provides the world's best protection against phishing, allows you to detect intrusions into your Wi-Fi networks, protects your personal data and payment information online, notifies you of password leaks and identity theft, and does many other useful things to keep you completely protected.
We've prepared a detailed step-by-step guide to help you choose the best subscription and quickly set everything up from scratch - or switch from other vendors to our applications, the most awarded of all security solutions in the world.
Source
