US military disabled ad tracking on troops’ devices following reports of targeted attacks
US DoD disabled ad tracking on troops' devices after foreign adversaries targeted service members using commercially bought location data.
Per letters shared with Senator Ron Wyden, the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command disabled advertising IDs on iPhones, Android devices, and Windows computers across the federal military enterprise. The protections rolled out earlier in 2026, with the Air Force implementing changes in July, to prevent adversaries from exploiting app-derived location data sold through data brokers. Wyden warned that personal devices brought onto military bases could still expose troops and facilities, and noted the intelligence community and FBI buy such data without warrants.
- All military branches disabled ad tracking on government-issued phones and computers
- Foreign adversaries targeted US troops in the Middle East using commercially purchased location data
- Protections rolled out earlier in 2026; the Air Force implemented changes in July
- Wyden warns personal devices brought onto bases could still expose troops and facilities
Full article413 words · extracted from techcrunch.com · click to collapse
6:21 AM PDT · September 4, 2026
The U.S. Department of Defense has disabled advertising tracking on troops’ phones and computers as part of an effort to protect them from threats that target their locations, according to a letter shared with Senator Ron Wyden.
Per a letter shared with the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Wyden said that the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command have all disabled advertising tracking across their government-issued devices.
This includes the departments’ iPhones and Android devices, and Windows computers managed across the federal military enterprise network, the letter said.
Reuters, which first reported the news and the letters, said the military rolled out the protections earlier this year. The Air Force told Wyden it implemented its changes more recently in July.
The aim is to prevent adversaries, including hostile governments, from using location data derived from the apps on troops’ phones to target them on the battlefield or on their bases. Location data collected from phone apps is commonly shared with third-party companies and data brokers, which then sell the information on the commercial market. Disabling the advertising ID makes the person far more difficult to identify as the location data blends in with everyone else whose advertising ID is also disabled.
Wyden raised the issue earlier this year in a letter to U.S. military leaders after finding that unnamed foreign adversaries had targeted U.S. troops in the Middle East using their commercially obtained location data. The senator, a known privacy hawk on Capitol Hill, said that while the move to reduce the advertising tracking was commendable, he warned that the personal devices of troops and contractors brought onto military bases could still expose service members and facilities to attacks.
While the U.S. government has acknowledged that its troops face a risk from this data, the U.S. intelligence community and the FBI have confirmed that they buy this data for surveillance and intelligence collection without a warrant.
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Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/04/us-military-disabled-ad-tracking-on-troops-devices-following-reports-of-targeted-attacks/