Law enforcement warned of ‘existential’ threat from ubiquitous technical surveillance

A new report from the Center for Internet Security (CIS) warns that American law enforcement is facing an “existential” threat from the widespread collection, aggregation, and exploitation of digital data – a phenomenon known as Ubiquitous Technical Surveillance (UTS).

UTS refers to the vast universe of digital information that is generated by modern life such as travel records, video feeds, device metadata, online activity, financial transactions, and even Bluetooth beacons.

While UTS is not a new threat, CIS warns that the scale, speed, and accessibility of modern data collection require a fundamentally new approach.

Without sweeping changes, the group’s report says, the same digital infrastructure that powers everyday life will continue to offer criminals, foreign adversaries, and domestic extremists a powerful blueprint for tracking, targeting, and endangering U.S. law enforcement personnel.

Similarly, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported an audit found Pentagon service members and their families, civilian personnel, and contractors face security risks from publicly accessible digital data.

Produced in partnership with the Major County Sheriffs of America and the Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Units, the new CIS report outlines how everything from mobile phones and social media to unsecured radios and smart-home devices are being weaponized by foreign adversaries, criminal organizations, and domestic threat actors to track law enforcement officers, undermine operations, and target witnesses and confidential human sources.

Much of this data is commercially available, inadvertently exposed, or vulnerable to hacking and, according to CIS, the ease with which this data can now be linked together has fundamentally altered the threat environment for law enforcement.

In January, a breach exposed the privacy risk from the de-anonymization of location data.

Gravy Analytics, a prominent location data broker, revealed that a significant data breach potentially exposed through de-anonymization the precise location information of millions of individuals. The breach was executed using a “misappropriated key” to access Gravy Analytics’ Amazon Web Services cloud storage environment.

The breach underscores significant privacy concerns, as the exposed data could potentially lead to the de-anonymization of individuals, enabling malicious actors to track personal movements and behaviors.

De-anonymization occurs when data that has been stripped of direct identifiers, such as names or email addresses, is combined with other datasets to re-identify individuals.

This process relies on quasi-identifiers like location, gender, birth date, or device IDs, which, when cross-referenced with other information, can uniquely identify people.

The CIS report pointed out that during the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) investigation of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, a Mexican criminal organization hired a hacker to pull geolocation and call data tied to an FBI assistant legal attaché in Mexico City.

The group also accessed the city’s camera system, using the data to identify the agent’s contacts and, in some cases, to intimidate or kill prospective informants.

The Department of Justice has since warned that recent technological advances have made UTS exploitation accessible even to relatively unsophisticated actors.

The CIS report catalogs a series of recent cases demonstrating how exposed American law enforcement systems are. Ransomware attacks have crippled police networks from Kansas to Louisiana, exposing tens of thousands of investigative records, witness information, and personal data.

Cyber intrusions have compromised major telecommunications providers, enabling Chinese state-sponsored hackers to pull call records associated with senior U.S. officials and even access systems used for court approved wiretaps.

Personal mobile devices are a central vulnerability. CIS cites warnings from senior U.S. military officials that smartphones are now “targeting beacons.” Cartels, cyber actors, and foreign intelligence services have repeatedly exploited phone data to locate law enforcement personnel, monitor operations, or collect data on their families.

The U.S. Secret Service recently dismantled a massive “SIM farm” capable of supporting anonymous communications, denial-of-service attacks, or device cloning.

Social media presents another avenue of exposure. Public facing posts, fitness tracker data, and even family members’ accounts can reveal the locations of officers, their routines, or their associations.

Investigations abroad have shown how public workout data from Strava inadvertently revealed the movements of world leaders and even submarine patrol schedules.

In the United States, TikTok’s transfer of U.S. user data to Chinese servers has raised concerns that foreign intelligence services could obtain sensitive information about law enforcement personnel.

Online databases, both commercial and law enforcement specific, are also being exploited. Extortion groups have breached restricted federal systems to steal nonpublic data, using it to threaten victims.

In other cases, suspects have used data broker websites to identify home addresses prior to premeditated attacks.

Even core police communication tools like handheld radios are increasingly at risk. Departments around the country have discovered that unencrypted channels can be monitored by the public or by malicious actors.

Security researchers have uncovered flaws in encrypted radio systems used by police and military agencies around the world, exposing vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to decode traffic in real time.

Federal officials are also warning about a surge in illegal signal jammers being smuggled into the U.S., potentially enabling criminals to disrupt dispatch systems during crimes.

The explosion of Bluetooth connected devices has introduced new risks, from body-worn cameras detectable at long distances to smart home devices that inadvertently broadcast network information and video feeds.

Researchers recently identified design flaws in consumer tracking tags that could allow anyone to track a user with minimal effort.

Misconfigured home doorbell cameras, manufactured by foreign companies, have exposed users’ IP addresses and Wi-Fi networks without encryption, raising concerns that officers’ homes could be surveilled.

Vulnerabilities extend to physical surveillance infrastructure itself. Security researchers found more than 40,000 internet exposed cameras worldwide – including thousands in the U.S. – streaming footage without authentication.

Another review identified more than 150 misconfigured license plate recognition cameras in North America, broadcasting live feed data and plate records publicly.

Criminal groups, including South American theft rings operating in the U.S., have already begun hiding their own cameras near targeted homes to study residents’ patterns of life.

Emerging technologies are accelerating these risks. A recent investigation found that activists used AI tools to digitally reconstruct the faces of masked ICE agents, later identifying the officers through reverse image searches and posting their personal information online.

The report concludes with a series of recommendations urging law enforcement agencies to overhaul their cybersecurity posture, tighten mobile-device policies, train officers and informants in online hygiene, and conduct continuous vulnerability assessments focused on UTS exposure.

It calls for widespread adoption of strong cybersecurity frameworks such as the CIS Critical Security Controls, automatic encryption of all radio traffic, restrictions on mobile device settings, and the use of Faraday bags during sensitive operations.

Law enforcement agencies are also urged to create formal incident response plans for UTS compromise events and to offer training for officers’ families on digital risk.

Article Topics

Center for Internet Security (CIS)  |  data collection  |  data privacy  |  digital identity  |  law enforcement  |  location data  |  smartphones  |  video surveillance