One of the many types of personally identifiable information (PII) is location. Any location data that can be used to identify a person directly or indirectly is an example of a PII. For example, GPS technology can be used to directly identify a specific person, while addresses, your place of birth, and anonymous geolocation data can be used to identify and track people indirectly. Using location as a PII is important because most of the things that we do are location dependent. We live at a certain location, work at a certain location and spend our lives moving from one location to another. Location is factored into the purchases we make and determine the laws by which we have to abide. When used correctly, location data can be used for both security and authentication. However, if not properly protected, location data can fall into the hands of bad actors and affect both your virtual and physical security.
One of the many types of personally identifiable information (PII) is location. Any location data that can be used to identify a person directly or indirectly is an example of a PII. For example, GPS technology can be used to directly identify a specific person, while addresses, your place of birth, and anonymous geolocation data can be used to identify and track people indirectly. Using location as a PII is important because most of the things that we do are location dependent. We live at a certain location, work at a certain location and spend our lives moving from one location to another. Location is factored into the purchases we make and determine the laws by which we have to abide. When used correctly, location data can be used for both security and authentication. However, if not properly protected, location data can fall into the hands of bad actors and affect both your virtual and physical security.
Click here for more information on Geo-privacy.
Click here to see a data leak of location data from Toyota and how anonymous location data can still be used to identify individuals.