Your iPhone smartphone is currently hiding something that might worry you. Security experts claimed that users' Apple advertising identifier or ad ID allows many apps to know their real names, which is clearly alarming since people are not sure what these third-party applications will do to their personal information.
According to Mashable SE Asia's latest report, the ad ID is a unique alphanumeric string that third parties combine with commercially available databases to observe an iPhone's online activities. Once they have the needed data, they can now use the only activity info to track down the real name of a user.
The ability to track a user's Apple ad ID was also used in the previous U.S. Capitol attack.
Why ad ID is a serious issue
The New York Times recently published an article, stating that an unknown source contacted them and provided a digital file of the precise locations of more than 12 million individuals' smartphones for several months in 2016 and 2017.
Experts revealed that this file contains personal info of Pentagon officials, celebrities, and normal U.S. citizens. On the other hand, the reliable publishing source received another data set.
However, this one contains the real names of the previous attackers of the U.S. Capitol. Although the Apple ad ID has previously been used to track the attackers, there is a chance that some organizations will also use it in negative ways.
Right now, different applications are following the new rules and regulations of Apple's App Store. However, they can still use your Apple ad ID by just requesting it from your device. To simplify your ad ID, it works just like the cookies on different websites. This means that it can remember your online activities and personal information.
What you need to do
If you don't want third-party applications to use your iPhone's ad ID and track your real name, all you need to do is turn it off. Here are the steps you need to do it;
- The first thing you need to do is access your device's Settings.
- After that, you need to go to the Privacy section and select the Tracking option.
- You will be directed to the Tracking section, which you will see the "Allow Apps to Request to Track" option.
- Once you see it, all you need to do is toggle it off.
For more news updates about iPhone's major flaws and other security issues, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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Written by: Giuliano de Leon.
