Track You: A Deep Dive into Safety Alerts for Apple AirTags
Authors: Narmeen Shafqat (Northeastern University), Nicole Gerzon (Northeastern University), Maggie Van Nortwick (Northeastern University), Victor Sun (Northeastern University), Alan Mislove (Northeastern University), Aanjhan Ranganathan (Northeastern University)
Volume: 2023
Issue: 4
Pages: 132–148
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56553/popets-2023-0102
Abstract: Bluetooth-based item trackers have sparked apprehension over their potential misuse in harmful stalking and privacy violations. In response, manufacturers have implemented safety alerts to notify victims of extended tracking by unknown item trackers. In this study, we specifically investigate the anti-stalking mechanism of Apple's AirTag. We identify and analyze potential triggers of safety alerts that have not been examined in previous research, such as the local time, the victim's device model, AirTag's battery life, and the distance between the AirTag and the victim's device. Furthermore, we demonstrate a novel possibility of developing a stealthy cloned AirTag capable of tracking victims directly on the Find My app while circumventing safety alerts on the victim’s device. Our experiments demonstrate that, despite regular updates to the public key and MAC address, our cloned AirTag can provide real-time location updates even with a four months old key, thereby highlighting the challenges in designing a robust anti-stalking framework. Furthermore, we propose practical solutions to mitigate stalking risks from cloned AirTags and enhance the existing anti-stalking safeguards for AirTags. These suggestions seek to provide a foundation for similar Bluetooth-based item trackers to improve their anti-stalking protections while ensuring optimal tracking efficiency. We conducted rigorous experiments to validate our findings, ensuring their accuracy and reliability. Our evaluation highlights that safety alerts take over 8 hours to appear during the day and are more prompt during the night, particularly after 11 pm.
Keywords: AirTags, Apple, Find My, Anti-stalking, Safety Alerts, Item Tracker
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