The DIY drone that tracks your devices just about anywhere

Risk Assessment / Security & Hacktivism

Meet Snoopy: The DIY drone that tracks your devices just about anywhere

DIY stalker device uniquely IDs people by tracking radio signals they emit.

by Dan Goodin - Mar 26 2014, 7:45pm IST

• Mobile Computing
• Privacy

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A DJI F450 quadcopter with an onboard GoPro and a Spektrum DX6i remote control unit.

SensePost

Seven months ago, Ars documented CreepyDOL, a low-cost, distributed network of Wi-Fi sensors that stalks smartphone-toting people as they move about neighborhoods or even entire cities. As each node is small enough to be slipped into an overlooked nook at the nearby gym, cafe, or break room, the system can assemble a shockingly detailed dossier of personal data, including the schedules, e-mail addresses, personal photos, and current or past whereabouts of the person or people it monitors.

Further Reading

DIY stalker boxes spy on Wi-Fi users cheaply and with maximum creep value

CreepyDOL follows you around town, vacuums up wireless digital crumbs.

Now, CreepyDOL—short for Creepy Distributed Object Locator—is about to be outdone by a newly updated DIY stalker device that has the potential to collect orders of magnitude more data from people. Dubbed Snoopy, it can track not only Wi-Fi, but also signals based on radio frequency identification (RFID) and the Bluetooth and 802.15 specifications. Combined with a GPS card that correlates signals to the location where they're detected, the capabilities let Snoopy spy not only on phones, tablets, and computers, but also, potentially, on pacemakers, fitness bracelets, smartcards, and other electronics. Plus, the geographically aware Snoopy can also be mounted on a low-cost aerial drone so it can locate and maintain radio contact even when subjects are on a morning run or situated in a high-rise building, a country inn, or some other out-of-the way location.

The DIY drone that tracks your devices just about anywhere

The Highways Agency is harvesting information from the devices as part of a project to monitor traffic flow and ease congestion.

The information is being passed on by mobile phone companies and other data firms so the agency can identify areas of heavy traffic and help motorists avoid them.

The agency says that all the information it receives is processed and anonymous so that the movements of an individual motorist cannot be identified.

However, Big Brother Watch, the privacy campaign group, said the scheme raised more questions about the extent to which people’s movements were being tracked and their data used without their knowledge.

Nick Pickles, its director, said: “This yet another example of how our lives are being monitored at an extremely detailed level, and just how much of that data is being shared and sold on for a vast range of purposes.

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