Beware: Apple AirTags Being Used to Track and Stalk

Apple launched its AirTag product, a small chip that can help people track lost items. But it’s already being used to track and stalk people without their knowledge.

An AirTag is a 1.26-inch disc with location-tracking capabilities that Apple started selling as a way “to keep track of your stuff.” The AirTags were released to deter us from making the mistakes we all do of misplacing our keys, wallet, purse and even luggage by allowing us to track them.

The tiny $29 AirTags have proved popular, selling out consistently since their unveiling.

There is growing concern that the AirTags may be abetting a new form of tracking and stalking, which privacy groups predicted could happen when Apple introduced the devices

Researchers now believe AirTags, which are equipped with Bluetooth technology, could be revealing a more widespread problem of tech-enabled tracking. They emit a digital signal that can be detected by devices running Apple’s mobile operating system. Those devices then report where an AirTag has last been seen.

AirTags, the small location-tracking discs, may be abetting a new form of stalking, posing a "uniquely harmful" threat given the ubiquity of Apple’s products. Privacy groups warned against this concern when Apple introduced the devices in April. https://t.co/hJoxjRRELH

— NYT Business (@nytimesbusiness) January 1, 2022

But AirTags present a “uniquely harmful” threat because the ubiquity of Apple’s products allows for more exact monitoring of people’s movements, said Eva Galperin, a cybersecurity director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who studies so-called stalkerware.

“Apple automatically turned every iOS device into part of the network that AirTags use to report the location of an AirTag,” Ms. Galperin said. “The network that Apple has access to is larger and more powerful than that used by the other trackers. It’s more powerful for tracking and more dangerous for stalking.”

“AirTag Detected Near You.”

AirTags and other products connected to Apple’s location-tracking network, called “Find My,” trigger alerts to unknown iPhones they travel with. The AirTag product page on Apple’s website notes that the devices are “designed to discourage unwanted tracking” and that they will play a sound after a certain amount of time of not detecting the device to which they are paired.

After concerns about AirTag stalking and illicit tracking were raised, Apple instituted some security measures meant to discourage this practice. If an AirTag remains separated from its owner for eight to 24 hours, the AirTag will begin making a beeping sound to alert people nearby of its presence. When it does so within that time period is randomized, Apple says, to make it more difficult for bad actors to use AirTags to track others. However, people who said they have been tracked have called Apple’s safeguards insufficient.

If the person being tracked has an iPhone, their phone will notify them once it notices someone else’s AirTag has traveled with the person for some time, although Apple hasn’t specified how long that takes.

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